A Second Chance in Life
by Chiibiisuke
Summary: After the Final Battle in Feudal Japan, Kagome was granted a second chance to live a normal life again. However, life is never normal for Kagome as she meet the tenth generation of Vongola by a request from a person in her past. TsunaXKagome KHR-cannon
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Hey all! Thank you for taking time to read my first ever attempt to write a crossover fanfiction. *bows* Can't gurantee constant updates but still I'll try my best to write as fast as possible. I'm like totally neglecting my other fanfiction. HEHE.

This story is unbeta'ed since my usual Betareader is unable to help. I've tried my best to reduce the numbers of mistakes in terms of grammar and spelling. So to those who like to help me beta-read, please send me a PM.

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><p>~PROLOGUE~<p>

*Feudal Era/Sengoku Era*

The sky was tinted a deep crimson by the setting Sun. The once serene scenery of the Sengoku Era was littered with heaps and piles of demon corpses, the stench of blood and death hung heavily in the air. A small clearing away from the Inuyasha forest, stood a group of allies, facing their spider-like arch-enemy for the final battle. Both sides had suffered great losses and neither would last long in the battle. Bakurya has been killed by both Sango and Miroku. Both the demon exterminator and the priest were holding onto each other to support themselves from falling over of exhaustion. The wolf demon was unconscious due to his multiple injuries after inflicting a fatal wound on Bakurya that allowed the couple to finish him off.

"Naraku! Prepare yourself!" Her unique sapphire eyes blazed as notched her arrow on her new bow Kikyo gave her and took aim on the Shikon no Tama embedded within Naraku.

"This Sesshoumaru will bear witness to your death under my blade." The demon lord announced and brought his newly created sword, Bakusaiga down. A wave of youki was sent to Naraku's body, causing it to eradicate and decompose, leaving his body vulnerable to the subsequent attacks.

A barrier was hastily thrown up. "Kukukuku, do you think that this level of attack can kill me? Do not underestimate my newly acquired powers from the Shikon no Tama." Naraku taunted and started to regenerate his body.

"Die Naraku!" A fatally injured Inuyasha hollered and swung his mighty Tessaiga and launched a barrage of Meidou Zangetsuha towards the corrupted half-demon, collapsing onto the ground as he watched his attack destroy the barrier of the evil half-demon. The demonic flesh of Naraku was sucked away by the Meidou, leaving only his upper torso and the Shikon no Tama.

"Ku, curse you Inuyasha!" The spider half-demon roared as he flew towards said enemy with a poisonous tentacle aimed at the collapsed warrior's heart.

Inuyasha looked at his attacker warily, his strength has completely left him after the last attack and his abdomen was still gaping wide open and he was losing blood. 'Ugh, I'm losing too much blood, vision… getting blurry… Can't move anymore…' The Dog half demon braced himself for the pain that never came, but a hiss of pain was heard instead

To his utter horror, his first and best friend stood over him, with the tentacle pierced through the right side of her ribs. Kagome choked out blood and dropped her bow and quiver of arrows. She grabbed on the tentacle and sent a full blast for her purifying powers through it to Naraku.

"Damn you, you cursed wench!" Naraku yelled in pain as Kagome's purifying powers cleansed the corrupted soul of Onigumo and the Shikon no Tama.

"NARAKU, DISAPPEAR!" Kagome blasted him with the maximum force of her Miko Ki and the half-demon became nothing but ashes on the bloodied ground and the cursed jewel of four souls laid beside the fallen priestess.

Cries of "Kagome, Kagome-sama and Kagome-chan" were heard and Inuyasha reached out towards her and cradled her in his arms. The couple in their group hobbled over to her side where Sango stroked her pale cold cheeks. The delinquent priest looked at his female friend with sober eyes.

"Ka-Kagome… Why did you do something so stupid?" Inuyasha demanded as tears began to well up in his honey golden eyes.

"Inu…yasha… Are you alright?" The raven hair girl managed to speak, after choking on her blood that started to flood her punctured lungs.

Not trusting his voice anymore, Inuyasha merely nodded his head as he hugged his best friend closer to his chest. Her body was getting colder and colder, her once rosy cheeks had begun to lose their colour and a pale sickly white replaced it. Dark rings circled her sky blue eyes and Kagome struggled to breathe.

"Why… Kagome? Why did you do something so reckless and stupid?" he choked out.

"Isn't it the same for you as well? Just for my sake, didn't you also do reckless things?" Kagome murmured.

Sesshoumaru made his way over to her side, his hand hovering over the handle of Tenseiga, having the intention to revive her if she died. However, the Tenseiga pulsed and the successor to the western lands knew that the priestess could not be saved. Her life has been disrupted by the Shikon no Tama and would not be able to be revived using the Tenseiga. The demon lord gazed at the woman that he had taken to be his little sister despite the first encounter with her where he wanted to kill her and many conflicts he had with his annoying half-brother.

"Sesshou-maru sama… Thank you for coming to help us. The Shikon no Tama, I entrust it to you. Please do whatever you see fit to it." The Shikon priestess told the demon lord. She knew that he would want to use the Tenseiga to save her. 'You've changed, Sesshoumaru…' She smiled as the Daiyoukai nodded and said nothing.

"Kagome-chan, stop talking! Save your strength." Said girl turned over and faced her female companion.

"Sango… Thank you… for being the sister I'd never have." Kagome rested her hand on the other women's hand. Gripping her hands tightly, Sango tried to keep her sister's hands warm. "Miroku-sama, please… take care of Sango. If… if anything happens to her, you'll get it from me." Kagome chuckled weakly at her threats to the perverted priest. "I'll entrust Shippo-chan to you as well." She continued.

Said priest bowed, "You have my word Kagome-sama."

"I-Inuyasha, plea-"her sentence was cut short by a violent fit of coughs and blood dripped down the sides of her lips.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha held her as she started coughed out more of her life fluid.

"Haha… I'm not sure… how long more I can last…"Kagome looked up at Inuyasha's face with half-lidded eyes.

"Don't be stupid Kagome! You'll be fine! Didn't you promise me that you'll be by my side no matter what happens?" He demanded. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, his face was etched with sorrow.

She shook her head and spoke in a hollow whisper, "I'm afraid that I can't keep that promise Inuyasha. However, please promise me… that you'll find happiness. Promise me another thing, you'll get along well with Sesshoumaru alright? No, let me finish… don't blame yourself that I had died. It's never your fault." Kagome glanced at the silver haired brothers and got their agreement.

Inuyasha's heart clenched he watched her azure eyes slowly losing their shine; her heartbeat growing weaker and weaker.

"I'm sorry… I-I love…all of you…" The priestess whispered her final words and her eyes closed shut. The slight movement of her chest stopped. The ever strong heartbeat of the high school girl finally stopped and beat no more.

A cry of anguish, followed by a howl of "Kagome" filled the night sky. The teen clad in red embraced the body of a seventeen year old girl, his best friend, closer to his chest, unable to accept the reality. The demon lord strode towards the Shikon no Tama that lay in its protector's blood and picked it up.

"Inuyasha, let go of her." Sesshoumaru bent down in front of his distorted half-brother and gazed at the serene face of the priestess.

"What the fuck do you want you bastard?" His half demon brother held onto the corpse even tighter and glared defiantly at him.

"Oi priest, get that idiot of a brother away from her. Tend to his injuries." The full fledge demon commanded. "This Sesshouumaru shall honour the priestess's wish and will wish upon on the Jewel."

Inuyasha struggled weakly under the holds of the priest and his fiancé. "Get off me Miroku! We have no idea at all what kind of wish he'll make! He may do something stupid!" the half demon thrashed around in his restrains.

"Relax Inuyasha, there must be a reason why Kagome-sama entrusted the Jewel to Sesshoumaru. I believe she knew that Sesshoumaru will make an appropriate wish that will not corrupt the Jewel. She said before, the Jewel will not corrupt if one makes a unselfish wish, however that is not the only correct wish that will cause the Jewel to disappear forever." Miroku assured the male.

"But, "Inuyasha argued but was cut off by a glare from the priest.

Squatting down beside the dead priestess, he placed the pink pearl onto Kagome's chest with his hand over the Shikon no Tama. 'This Sesshoumaru wish for this priestess to be given a second chance in life and return to her original timeline with her memories and abilities intact. May her find happiness in her second life.'

The Shikon no Tama pulsed and a bright flash of light emitted and blinded the group. A silhouette of a lady down in battle armour appeared next to Kagome's body.

"Who are you? Show your face!" Inuyasha demanded as he hobbled towards the shadow with Miroku's help.

"Calm down my child, I bring you no harm. I am Midoriko, creator of the Shikon no Tama." The legendary priestess smiled at the group. "I'm here to grant you your wish, demon. However, as you know, there will be a price to be paid for every wish. He has wished for Kagome to be given a second chance in life. This means that Kagome will be sent back to her time and her time will be turned back. She'll be reborn again as a new-born child. Her family however will be affected; she'll lose her parents and grandparents at a young age. Do you still want to make this wish?" The creator of the jewel explained to the group.

"Wait! What about her memories and abilities?" Sango asked the priestess hesitantly. "Would she still remember us?" her heart felt lighter after hearing Sesshoumaru's wish. Kagome will be fine after all.

"She will only regain her memories of this life after meeting Sesshoumaru. Her powers and abilities will remain. She is still, after all my descendant." Midoriko chuckled at the faces of disbelief of her descendant's companions.

"Priestess, that's my wish. Will you grant it?" Sesshoumaru faced the priestess with respect. He had heard of stories from a long time ago that the priestess standing in front of him is extremely powerful and well-respected by both humans and demons alike.

"That, I will. However you must know that the Shikon no Tama will merge together with Kagome once again. It will not disappear until the one and only correct wish is made." She added. "Search for her as she will be an important figure in the future." Midoriko then spread out her arms and both she and Kagome glowed and disappeared as the light fade away.

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><p>I know this isn't really what you would call a crossover yet since I haven't introduce the KHR characters. But no worries! They are coming up next chapter! I just had to do a prologue before starting the main storyline.<p>

Please do leave a review after reading! Flames are welcome to a certain extent.

Chiibiisuke


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed! :D Virtual huggies for you ^^ I'm going to mess a little with Tsuna's age here. He'll be 15 instead of 14 in my story. Anyways, here's the second chapter! :) Tried my best with my horrible grammar. Please review after reading! :D

Enjoy!~

Disclaimer: I don't own Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn! or Inuyasha. Both anime belongs to their rightful authors.  
>(if they belonged to me, I'll make Tsuna have more awesome moments. And Inuyasha to wait for Kagome in the future when she was unable to return back to the past.)<p>

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><p>*Tokyo, 1990*<p>

Mr Higurashi felt as though he was the happiest man on Earth. His beloved wife, Nodoka, has delivered a healthy baby girl and all was well. He rushed into the room where his wife rested with their crying first born.

"Come dear, hold Kagome." Mrs Higurashi smiled warmly as she passed their bundle of joy into the arms of her husband.

"Kagome… that's a good name." he cooed at the baby girl and rocked her lightly and her cries stopped immediately.

"I see that she likes you a lot my dear." Nodoka chuckled lightly.

"Pleased to meet you, Kagome-chan." Said baby gave a dimpled smile and fell asleep, unknown to the things that happened to her in her previous life.

*Tokyo, 1999*

It was one snowy night in November. A nine year old little girl sat by her little brother's cradle as she waited for her parents and grandpa to return. She watched her new born younger brother sleeping away. Something started to nudge the sides of her heart and she felt that something bad has happened. As she looked outside the windows, a car pulled up in front of her house. Thinking it was her parents; Kagome rushed down the steps and pulled the door open.

"Otou-san! Mama-" she cried out but paused. Two police officers stepped out of their car and rushed towards her, worry evident on their faces.

"Is this the Higurashi residence?" the policeman bent down to the little girl's height and asked kindly.

The girl nodded shyly and asked why Mr Policeman was at her house.

"Something bad has happened to your papa and mama and grandpa. Can you come with me to the hospital now?" The policeman's face was creased with sorrow.

"But Souta is still sleeping, and I'm not allowed to bring him along." Little Kagome didn't know what to do. Despite her age, she knew something bad has happened but was caught in a dilemma.

"It is okay; the mister over there will take care of him and will bring him along. Please hurry!"

*Several days later*

The little girl was dressed in black, with a black veil that covered her tear-stained face. After finding out her parents and grandpa died in a freak accident where a drunk driver smashed directly into the car that snowy night, she had not stopped crying ever since. Souta was sleeping peacefully in the arms of a kind lady who lived across their house, oblivious to reality. Kagome's heart broke as she watched the coffins of her beloved parents and grandpa lowered into the grave.

"Poor girl, she lost both her parents and her grandpa. Now she's all alone with her baby brother."

"Yes, who will look after them? They are still so young…"

Kagome wanted to shout out to the people to stop pitying her, stop looking at her with sympathetic eyes, stop talking about her and Souta. Just stop it. She knelt down in front of the grave and placed white roses. In her embrace was Souta, snuggling into his sister's chest, away from the cold.

After the end of the funeral, the people who attended it started flocking away, leaving the orphans alone. A man strode towards Kagome. She bowed low and thanked him for attending without looking at his appearance.

"Miko, look at me." The man with silver hair tied up in a high ponytail like his late father spoke in a commanding tone.

The little girl flinched at the odd word and the familiar voice. Hesitating, she raised up her head gazed into the golden eyes of the man. Clad in a black Armani suit, he knelt down beside her and patted her hair.

The fog that has always been present in her heart and soul finally cleared.

A name.

A teardrop.

The little girl flung herself into the embrace of the demon lord.

"Sess-Sesshoumaru!" Kagome cried.

"I see that your memories had returned, Miko."

"I-I think so. How did you- What happened?" the disorientated priestess clutched onto the hands of Sesshoumaru. "Why am I alive? I thought I had died back then?" she looked frantically into his eyes.

"Sleep little miko. I will explain everything the next day. From this day onwards, I will be your guardian and you will be under my care. Do you understand, Kagome?" the dog demon carried both siblings in his arms and straightened himself.

The priestess voiced her agreement. Her eyes grew heavy and began to close. Before falling asleep, she mumbled "I'm not small…"

The corners of the Daiyoukai's lips twitched upwards at her comment and made his way out of the cemetery.

*Five Years Later*

*Namimori*

"Tsu-kun! Time to wake up, or you'll be late for school!" Sawada Nana shouted from the kitchen, setting the table for breakfast.

A yell could be heard followed by a loud thud and a cry of pain.

"Ah, stupid Tsuna has woken up." Smirking, the best hit man in the world as he munched on the breakfast Nana prepared.

"Gyahahahaha! Faster stupid Tsuna! Or the great Lambo-san will eat up your breakfast!" the baby assassin in a cow suit yelled and reached towards Tsuna's plate of food.

"No, Lambo. Bad." I-pin scolded the Guardian of Lightning and whacked his hand away from his target.

"Tch, I-pin's a meanie." He pouted.

A series of tumbles came from the stairs. A 15 year old teen with unruly chestnut brown hair stumbled into the kitchen. His white shirt was tucked out messily under his navy blue vest. The young Vongola boss pressed his hand against his skull and he greeted everyone in the kitchen with a strained good morning. Rubbing the bump that formed after falling off his bed and landed head first on the floor, Tsuna tried to tame his bed hair that made his hair even spikier causing him to heave a sigh and gave up what he was doing.

Looking at the kitchen's clock, his brown eyes widened and practically screamed that a certain perfect would bite him to death if he was to be late for school again.

"I'm off to school!" Tsuna dashed out of the house after grabbing a fresh toast from the table.

Panting heavily as he climbed up the stairs to his homeroom, Tsunayoshi slammed open the classroom door and stumbled in just seconds before the school bell rang.

"Yes! And Tsuna is safe and barely on time for school!" announced Yamamoto dramatically as though he was on the baseball field.

The silver hair teenager rushed to the side of his boss and growled, "Let's the Tenth breathe a bit before talking to him Baseball freak! And don't address him so casually!"

"G-good morning Yamamoto-kun, Gokudera-kun." Tsuna managed to wheeze out as he leaned on the door frame to catch his breath.

"Sawada, Yamamoto, Gokudera. Get back to your seats and stop blocking the doorway." Their homeroom teacher shooed away the three well-known trouble makers in the school.

After mumbling an apology, Tsuna went to his usual seat and stared out of the windows and gazed at the clouds floating by the blue sky. So many things had happened within such a short period of time. Having a home tutor who is the best hit man in the world to teach him how to be a top-notch mafia boss; knowing that he himself was the heir of a large mafia family; gaining new friends and enemies; trying to survive school and devil-like trainings by his tutor that pushes him over his boundaries.

He let out a sigh as he listened half-heartedly to the homeroom teacher talking about a transfer student that has come back to Japan after staying in England for 5 years.

"Class, please be nice and look after Higurashi-san. You may come in now Higurashi." Kobayashi sensei announced as he wrote the transfer student's name on the black board.

Silence fell upon the rowdy class as they watched a raven-hair girl walked elegantly into the classroom as though she was a prim and proper young lady. Her jet black hair flowed to the small of her back, the Namimori uniform showed off her creamy legs and accented the curves of her body. The males in the class including the three Vongola Guardians were mesmerized by her beauty. The girls were whispering among each other, wondering how the transfer student has such good complexion.

After bowing to the class with her hands over one another, she spoke, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Kagome. Please look after me." Her sapphire eyes scanned across the classroom and noticed a pair of bright orange eyes staring back at her and widened slightly.

"Gome-chan?" A familiar voice called out.

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><p>Haha! I'll leave it like this for the time being. I know it sucks for readers to read a cliffhanger but the rest I still have not finish re-editing it yet.<br>Keep the reivews coming! Hope to get maybe a bit more. :)

Chiibiisuke~


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note:

Hey all! I'm really sorry for the late update! Had been extremely busy. *deep bows* Finally, I will be having my piano exam TOMORROW! XD Once I'm done with Piano, I'll be having my Promotional Exams. So I apologise in advance that I may not be updating for the next two weeks! Great news is, I may be making weekly updates by the end of November! Don't worry, I'll still be updating this story, it's just irregular updates. Look forward to it people! :)  
>A big thank you to many of you who had favouritedstory alert/followed/ AND REVIEWED this story! *toss confetti in the air* :D

Haha, just FYI, the eye colours of the characters are according to the manga. Kagome for example, has brown eyes in the Anime but blue eyes in the manga. I just decided to follow the manga version because it is much more uinque than brown eyes. ^-^

Here's my next chapter! Enjoy!

"Japanese"  
><strong>"English"<br>**_'Thoughts'_

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR or Inuyasha. Nor do I own the references taken from Jodi Picoult book.

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><p>Sapphire eyes met with bright orange eyes. "Kyoko!" She gasped in surprise, and beamed as she walked gracefully towards said girl and hugged her tightly. She had missed her childhood friend greatly; moving all the way to England with the demon lord away from Kyoko was never easy. Kyoko was one of her only closest friends before the deaths of her parents and grandparents. She had visited Kagome every day and helped her get over her relatives' deaths. Until about two years ago, they had exchanged letters with one another. A cough from the homeroom teacher interrupted their bubble of happiness and sent Kagome to her empty seat beside Tsunayoshi. Both girls promised to catch up with each other during break time later.<p>

A smile graced her lips and she sent a nod towards the young heir to the Vongola family before taking her assigned seat beside Tsuna. The bell rang and Kobayashi Sensei walked out of the classroom and was replaced by the much hated English teacher. Groans filled the classroom as the teacher made them pass up their assignments.

Kagome sighed internally; she had already studied all the topics that were being taught in class. After the memories of her previous life were regained, she kept her knowledge about her studies in Middle School as well, meaning that she had an advantage against all the other students in class. The raven hair girl stared outside the window and doodled on her notebook, not noticing that the teacher has called out her name to make her read in front of the entire class.

"Higurashi Kagome!" Snapping out of her daydream as she heard her name get called, Kagome stood up and looked at the teacher. "Why not we let Higurashi read? She must be so clever till she didn't have to pay attention in class." the teacher smirked, having every intention to embarrass the new girl.

Listening to the teacher's comment, Kagome stood up haughtily, rolling her sapphire eyes at the teacher and began reading the passage from the book.

"**There are stars in the night sky that look brighter than the others, and when you look at them through a telescope you realize you are looking at twins. The two stars rotate around each other, sometimes taking nearly a hundred years to do it. They create so much gravitational pull there's no room around for anything else. You might see a blue star, for example, and realized only later that it has a white dwarf as a companion-that first one shines so bright, by the time you notice the second one, it's really too late." **

Kagome finished reading and sat down with an aloof expression on her face, silently thanking the demon lord who took her to England with him and made her study English with him as her tutor. A shiver climbed up her spine while thinking of the lessons she had with Sesshoumaru. Even though the great demon lord had mellowed out in the 500 years, his attitude hardly changed when he was teaching her.

Everyone was stunned by her perfect English that had a light British accent. The girls were whispering with each other in excitement while the boys were entrapped by Kagome's 'coolness'.

Feeling annoyed that he could not pick on the new student who wasn't paying attention to his class; the English teacher directed his anger to his next victim who was a certain brunette staring aimlessly outside the window.

"Sawada! You read the next paragraph!" he demanded.

The chair screeched while he stood up quickly with his book in his hands. "Y-Yes!" Tsuna gulped before beginning. **"Kyamberu is deh one hu a-at-chuari…"** Poor Tsuna was then hit by a chalk by the teacher before he could finish reading the first sentence.

"It seems that Dame-Tsuna can't even read properly." The teacher sniggered, a few other classmates followed suit.

"Why you bast-" Gokudera was halfway out of his seat; hands holding on dynamites that would go flying towards the teacher any minute before being dragged down by a pleading Tsuna.

"**Why not dear teacher read the paragraph first and let us hear if you can do better than Sawada-san?" **Another voice cut in. All eyes in the classroom focused on the raven haired was furious. She had never met a single teacher in her past life that would treat his students the way he treats Tsuna.

The teacher was taken aback by the transfer student's outburst. Determined not to be embarrassed by a 'silly girl who just transferred in', he read the same sentence. **"Kyamberu iz tee one who at-chu-ari answers deh doctoru." **He spoke with a heavy Japanese accent which only Gokudera and Kagome picked up.

"Hmph… And you call yourself an English teacher." The Decimo's right hand man scoffed loudly. He grabbed the book on Tsuna's desk and began reading in flawless English. **"Campbell is the only one who answers the doctor. "I have power of attorney for Anna," he explains, "not her parents." He looks from me, to Sara. "And there is a girl upstairs who needs that kidney." **He finished, closing the book and smirked at the teacher. **"So how is my reading, Sen-sei?" **He laced his last sentence with obvious sarcasm.

Those in class who were better in class could only understand the bits and pieces of what was spoken by the three people. The rest were just clueless but knew that the two students were standing up for Dame-Tsuna.

The teacher was mortified before Kyoko spoke up in Japanese that he should not bully students, let alone throwing things at them. Yells of agreement rose from the class, causing the passing principal to look in and requested the teacher to visit his office after lesson.

Tsuna gave Kagome a sheepish smile as thanks for helping which she returned with a grin.

As promised, Kagome and Kyoko, along with Hana spent the entire afternoon trying to catch up with each other. Kyoko had brought Kagome to meet Tsuna who was sitting with his two guardians on a bench under a tree.

"Kagome-chan, I want you to meet Tsuna-kun and his friends."

"Oh! So you're that 'Tsuna-kun'! I've heard quite a lot from dear Kyoko over here about you." Kagome nudged Kyoko playfully, earning a whine about how embarrassing it was from her. "Anyway, I'm Higurashi-Taisho Kagome. Pleased to meet you, everyone." The raven hair girl reintroduced herself.

"I-I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi. Tsu-Tsuna is fine." He stuttered once it was his turn to do self-introduction. Tsuna's heart skipped a beat when Kagome smiled warmly at him. The brunette blushed lightly as he grinned back sheepishly.

"Hey! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi." The baseball player extended his hand and gave Kagome's a shake.

"Gokudera Hayato." A certain sliver haired male introduced in a scornful manner. Although he was grateful that she stood up for the Tenth as well, he did not like her at all. To him, her personality was almost exactly the same as the stupid baseball idiot; always smiling like an idiot, with a happy-go-lucky attitude, not even knowing the truth behind things. However, there was something that Gokudera could not understand. Her surname, Taisho, sounded really familiar to him, but he was unable to recall where and when he had heard that name before.

Kagome as though sensing Gokudera's suspicions of her, quickly started chatting away with Yamamoto as though they had known each other for ages instead of just meeting the other for a few minutes. Seeing how well her dearest friend had gotten along with Tsuna and gang, Kyoko and Hana left her with them as they gave them some time for themselves to break the ice between them.

The Guardian of Rain told her stories about how he met Tsuna, how Tsuna saved his life when he wanted to commit suicide, and Gokudera, and Tsuna, Gokudera and himself joining some sort of Mafia game that the Reborn kid had created.

Gokudera was practically shaking from annoyance at the baseball idiot and was only barely containing his anger with much coaxing from his beloved Tenth. He was cursing the Guardian of Rain in his mind, hoping he did not expose too many details to the girl.

The tenth boss of Vongola gazed at his friend feeling a little envious how they were able to hit off so quickly. An uneasy feeling rose from his chest as he saw Kagome giggling at Yamamoto's jokes. He wanted to be the one making her laugh. _'W-wait, where did that thought come out from? Argh! Get a grip on yourself Dame-Tsuna! Stupid Tsuna, stop being delusional about being able to talk to Kagome like how Yamamoto is.'_ Tsuna started having a mental war in his mind. Unknown to him, all three students were looking at him curiously as he hit his head with his hands.

The ringing of the school bell broke Tsuna's mental war.

"Ahh… Lunch break is over." Yamamoto sighed as he offered a hand to pull Kagome up from the bench.

"Thank you Takeshi-kun." She placed her slender hands on his callused ones due to the intensive baseball training and stood up.

"I had fun chatting with you Kagome. Let's do it again next time!" he grinned happily. He wanted to continue but was rudely interrupted by Gokudera who demanded that the Tenth should return to the class soon and he couldn't stand the stupid 'baseball idiot' talking with the 'transfer-ee'. Kagome's eyebrow twitched at the name and she sighed. _'He's just like that Inuyasha.'_

Yamamoto simply shrugged and lead Kagome back to the class, apologizing for his friend's behaviour which she simply waved it off.

Thankfully for the Namimori Middle School, the day ended without much chaos and destruction caused by the new generation of Vongola family.

However, rumours had started after several students in Namimori Middle school had been attacked by students from another school, even Ryohei got attacked. Despite Hibari has already left school to deal with the attackers, Tsuna was terrified. Thinking it might be related to the mafia, he ran back home as quickly as possible to find his tutor to talk about the attacks.

"Tsuna!" A voice called out to him from behind. Turning around, he saw the new transfer student jogging towards him.

"Higurashi-san! What are you doing here?" He questioned.

"Oh, my house is at that direction as well. And don't call me Higurashi-san. My name is Kagome." She smiled and continued walking beside Tsuna.

"But Higura-"

She interrupted Tsuna before he could continue. "It's Ka-go-me," accenting on every syllable of her name. "Calling me Higurashi reminds me of someone I knew in the past." An image of Hojo-kun appeared in her mind. She gave a wince as she remembered all the excuses she had to give just to avoid Hojo-kun from visiting her and giving her health products that could better improve her many 'illnesses'.

"Ok, Kagome-chan."

Tsuna followed her and fell into steps with her. An awkward silence loomed over them as Tsuna wrecked his mind to think about things to talk about. "Have you heard that students from our school been attacked by other students?"

"Oh, that. I heard from some girls in our class that the attackers were from Kokuyo Middle school." Kagome replied, staring off in front of her while Tsuna fell silent.

As they continued their walk, Kagome, feeling Tsuna's uneasiness, started asking him about his life, parents and friends in Namimori Middle School. After a few moments, the ice between them broke and both teens chatted away like old friends.

Reaching his house, wondered why Kagome was still following him. Said girl was still looking around her surroundings and commenting how nostalgic it was to be back in her home country after staying so long in a foreign place.

"I've reached my house. Would you like to come in and have a seat?" Tsuna offered her when they reached the Sawada residence.

"Eh? Wouldn't it be bad? I mean, I don't want to intrude in your house."

The young boss gave a weak laugh and said it was alright and that they could study together if she liked to.

Kagome nodded her agreement and followed Tsuna in.

"Excuse me for intruding!" Kagome said quietly.

"Mum! Reborn! I'm home!" Tsuna kicked off his snickers and voiced his arrival. He waited for Kagome to remove her shoes and placed them neatly at the side before bringing her to his room, avoiding the playing children in the living room. Kagome hid a giggle with a cough upon looking at a door with a tuna fish hanged on it_. 'A Tuna hung on the bedroom door for Tsuna's bedroom. Ironic much.' _Kagome thought.

A flying kick aimed at Tsuna's head made its impact as soon as they entered the Decimo's bedroom. The tenth boss of Vongola whined in pain as he rubbed the bump that the kick had created on his head.

"Do you have to do this every time I go home Reborn?" Tsuna demanded with teary eyes as he glared at his infant of a home tutor.

"You don't have to shout this loud when you reach home. No one wants to know Dame-Tsuna has returned home." The baby hitman smirked.

"Ah! You're so cute! What's your name little boy?" Kagome picked up Reborn to her eye level and cooed at him.

"It's Reborn." Said hitman's eyebrow was twitching at how the girl was treating him as. He was no regular baby! He was the strongest hitman!

"Nice to meet you Reborn-kun," She gave him a small hug before placing him back on the ground.

Once his little feet were back on the ground, Reborn frowned. He wanted to be hugged for a little bit longer. He grimaced, he must be becoming soft. Liking a hug from a girl shouldn't make him, the greatest hitman in the world, blush like a school girl. Thankfully, his fedora hid his pink-tinted cheeks while he ordered his student to bring up some tea.

"Man… Even so, he doesn't have to kick his hard. I swear if he kicks my head his hard anymore, I'll become a retard sooner or later due to brain damage." Tsuna muttered to himself as he walked down the stairs towards the kitchen.

"Ah, Tsu-kun. Welcome home! Is the guest in your room?" Sawada Nana smiled at her son who was walking in. "I've taken the liberty to prepare some sweets and tea for her. Will you bring up for her?"

"Y-Yes mum. Wait! I never said anything that my friend that came is a girl!" his brown eyes went wide in surprise.

"It's a woman's instinct," was his only reply followed by a smile.

Tsuna sighed and carried the tray of tea and snacks back up his room. Opening the door to his room, he heard Kagome agreeing to something Reborn had told her.

"What were you talking about Reborn?" Tsuna asked his tutor suspiciously, afraid that he might try to influence Kagome to join his so-called guardians in his mafia family like how he made Yamamoto caught up in the Mafioso. He passed a cup of tea to the raven hair girl who voiced her thanks upon receiving the warm tea.

A smirk appeared on the Sun Arcobaleno's face. "It's exactly what you are thinking Dame-Tsuna."

"EHHHHHHHHH!" screamed the tenth boss of Vongola. "Why would you want to do that Reborn?" he demanded angrily. He had a bad feeling about letting Kagome being caught up with him in the Mafia; it was something he had never felt before despite his attraction towards Kyoko. He set the plate of rice crackers on the table in front of Kagome.

"But isn't it cool that you are the boss of a mafia family? What's more, you're THE boss of the oldest, most influential mafia in Italy according from what I heard from Reborn-kun." Kagome grinned in delight as though she was a child receiving candy. "And you're like the great-great-great grandson of the first ever boss, the one who founded it! Shouldn't you be a bit happy that you're chosen?" she continued.

"But I didn't ask for it!" he replied, "Plus I'm Dame-Tsuna! What can Dame-Tsuna do other than failing tests, getting injured from playing sports, getting ostracised by the class, and tripping over my own feet while walking on a flat surface which results to being embarrassed by the entire school?" he ended his rant, feeling angry that someone as normal as Kagome would find being the boss of a dark underground society cool.

Kagome's eyes widen upon hearing all the things that happened to Tsuna and apologized softly to him feeling a little guilty over what she had said.

Seeing the girl with sapphire eyes looking down with an apologetic expression on her face, Tsuna mentally whacked himself for exploding on her. _'I shouldn't have said all those things to her…' _

"Ka-Kagome-chan, I'm sorry for taking it out on you." Tsuna said, afraid that said girl might burst out into tears like Haru. She gave a small smile, accepting his apology.

"Shut up you useless student. Tsuna, I want you to find out what is happening to Namimori middle school. There may be a possibility that the missing Fuuta could be a reason for this." Reborn sipped his espresso while talking.

"Why me?" said brunette whined.

"Because you're the next boss of Vongola," Reborn simply stated. "And being a boss, you must have experience in doing missions to protect your family from danger. Ryohei was injured from the attacks and you the boss still haven't done anything to protect or avenge him. So move your lazy ass and do something to protect your guardians." The infant tutor commanded.

Tsuna sighed, knowing that he could not win the argument with Reborn. After denying again that he would not be the next boss of Vongola for the umpteenth time, an irritated Reborn pointed his green gun at Tsuna and threatened him to shut up which the brunette gladly complied to prevent himself from getting shot by his Spartan of a tutor.

"Sorry to interrupt but I think I found out something." A quiet voice came from the new transfer student.

Both males turned and looked at her placing a piece of paper on the table. "I believe it might be related to this." Kagome pointed to the ranking list that Fuuta has made on the strongest people in Namimori Middle School. "The time on the watches matches the rank of the student who was attacked…" Reborn said.

Everything clicked into place in Tsuna's mind. _'That's why the students who got attacked had watches with them! The time on the watches was meant to be a countdown to the strongest person ranked on the Namimori Middle School Fighting Prowess Ranking. All the attacks were targeted at the strongest few in Namimori Middle School!'_

"So if the Vice-president of the Disciplinary Council Kusakabe-san is number 4, then number 3 would be attacked next!" Tsuna exclaimed. Brown eyes scanned the ranking list to find the 3rd most powerful student in Namimori Middle School.

"You got to be kidding? What should we do Reborn?" the brunette was losing his cool. His hands were shaking when he saw the name printed in elegant font that said: '3. Gokudera Hayato'.

"This may be bad… You go check it out. I have to research something." Reborn carried Leon and jumped out of the bedroom window even before Tsuna could complain about it.

"Tsuna! Stop whining and let's go! Your friend is in trouble isn't it? Now isn't the time to be complaining about who is supposed to go. You got to warn him about this! I'll go with you." Kagome cut off Tsuna's hysterical whims and dragged him out of the room.

The duo rushed down the stairs and Tsuna told his mother that he would be going out with Kagome for a moment. Kagome started calling Yamamoto's cell phone to ask where Gokudera was.

"Takeshi-kun said that Gokudera-kun left school long ago and went to the shopping district." Kagome ended the call and flipped her phone shut.

"Ok, it's this way! We got to hurry!" Tsuna began running with Kagome following close behind.

* * *

><p>Done! This chapter is extra long as an apology for taking a long time to update and I wouldn't be able to update in the following week.<p>

Haha! I can't help it but put a few paragraphs of Jodi Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper". I ABSOLUTELY LOVE her books. I have about 7 of her novels on my shelf. And if you're wondering why would I make Tsuna's English class read her books, here's the reason. When I was fifteen, my school actually made the entire cohort buy Jodi Picoult's "My Sister's Keeper" as an English textbook! And that scene is what happened during my class one fine day. Just that I'd edited what exactly happened.

I've tried my best on how Japanese people would try to read English. No offense. But I imagined how a Japanese person with zero knowledge in English would try to read a sentence.

Lastly, I'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling errors if you had spotted any, tried my best to edit it before posting it up. This story is still unbeta-ed. If anyone is interested in being my Beta, Please send me a PM! :D

And so there you have it! Please Review! Review = Better storyline = Better chapters = Longer chapters = Quicker updates. :)

Chiibiisuke~


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Hey Guys! I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED MY EXAMS! Whoots! *toss confetti in the air* Today was the last paper and I just could not wait to rush home and update this story! :) I'm more able to do weekly updates now I hope. Since I'm much more free now~ teehee!

Anyways, Thank you to those who have placed this story in their alerts, favourited this story and reviewed it. :D Most of all, Thanks you for reading! ^o^ Though the number of reviews was a bit low, I would appreciate it a lot if you guys can take the time to give some comments.

As usual, I've tried my best with my grammar and spelling and sentence structure. Me still beta-less. TT^TT  
>Do enjoy reading this chapter! :D<p>

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><p>*Namimori Shopping District*<p>

"Hmmm… For the time being, I should grab a bite," the silver haired teen walked down the street, fishing out the remaining money he had. "What? Only 50 yen? Geez… "He heaved a sigh but was interrupted by a voice behind him.

"Namimori Middle School, Class 1-A. Register number 8, Gokudera Hayato," A teen wearing glasses with a strange mark on his left cheekbone stood slouching, "I want to finish this quickly without breaking a sweat."

"Who the hell are you bastard?" Gokudera demanded.

The Kokuyo Middle School freshman introduced himself as Kakimoto Chikusa. "I have come to destroy you."

'_Why am I getting bothered by guys from other schools when I'm trying my best to live a normal modest life…'_ Gokudera sighed and said, "Alright then, come at me. It's my motto to end a fight that is started.

As soon as he finished his sentence, the Kokuyo Middle Schooler's hand flipped upwards in a blur, sending things flying towards Gokudera. Barely dodging the attack, he ran into another ally, closely followed by the attacker.

Dynamites were thrown, and the yo-yos spun had defused the dynamites.

'_Yo-yos? Who the hell fights with a Yo-yo?'_ Gokudera analysed his enemy while taking cover behind a signboard. Suddenly, the yo-yo was in front of him with sharp tiny pins coming out from the gaps.

Gokudera managed to jump out of the explosion that followed and did a somersault in mid-air to allow him to land properly.

'_This one isn't any normal Middle Schooler. What he said just now and the way he fights… He's a pro hitman.' _Feeling annoyed that the Mafia would come after him, he demanded. "Which family you belong to?"

"Ah hah… Finally this one is a 'hit'." The teen who wore glasses muttered in a low monotone voice. "I'll have you tell me your family, who your boss is and every single thing you know. Prepare yourself!" his glasses shone creepily in the sunlight, making it look as though it was opaque. He tossed his yo-yos towards Gokudera, firing the needles in the process.

The silver hair teen jumped out of the way to avoid the attack. _'Damn it! He's after the Tenth! If he is, I must stop him no matter what!'_

Lighting up his dynamites, Gokudera flung them towards Chikusa with deadly accuracy. "Double the bombs!"

The yo-yos were spun and defused the dynamites once again; flying towards Gokudera. Pins flew out of the gaps of the yo-yos once again, aiming directly at the dynamite user.

"Damn it, I didn't want to use this technique unless I had to. Even though now it's a small bomb…" He flicked a smaller dynamite behind him. The impact of the explosion propelled him forward, allowing him to have more momentum to escape the pins. "It freaking hurts!" He groaned as he ran towards Chikusa, his back was burnt by the explosion.

Pulling back his arm, Gokudera aimed a punch at his enemy's face. The other teen side-stepped, completely avoided the attack and caused Gokudera to rush forward without stopping.

"Shit! There's more to come. Eat this! Double the bombs!" he threw his dynamites at the bespectacled teen while flying backwards, landing hard on his back.

"Tch, unoriginal guy." Chikusa cut away the fuse of the dynamites once again. However, he did not notice three other smaller dynamites blowing up on him, causing the right side of his face to be badly burnt. He fell to his knees as he bore the pain of burnt flesh. "H-How…" he managed to gasp out.

Gokudera sniggered, "Serves you right. You bastard was taken by a simple trick just because you were complacent. This attack is the same as my previous double the bombs; just that I threw the smaller dynamites before the regular double the bombs. I bet you are familiar with the term optical illusion." He explained, sitting sloppily on the ground.

"Don't you dare underestimate Vongola."

Chikusa looked up to find dynamites raining down on him.

"Get blown away." Gokudera said, exhausted.

A large explosion followed after that, followed by a cloud of smoke.

Meanwhile, the Demon lord looked out of his office window. Gazing at the concrete jungle of Tokyo and was lost in his thoughts. A knock sounded from his oak door, "It's me Aniki," a guff voice announced before entering the office.

The man placed a folder on the heavy mahogany desk that 'Chairman of Moko-Moko' and asked the other male. "Are you sure you did the right thing by sending her back to that Namimori town?"

The great demon scoffed at his question. "When did I ever make a wrong choice?" He replied haughtily.

"Always, in case you forgot. You tried to kill me your only brother-"

"Half-brother," Sesshoumaru rudely interrupted before Inuyasha sent him a death glare.

"Alright, _half-brother_. Tried to kill Kagome for pulling out Tetsusaiga, tried to kill me and my companions for more times than I can count, tried to kill me for standing in your way, tried to kill me for inheriting the Tetsusaiga and you can't use it, tried to kill me so that you can destroy Souunga without any interference." Inuyasha listed while recounting the disagreements he and his sibling had.

"It was her decision to return there. She said she wanted to go back to the place where she was born now and at the same time, assist me in helping out an old acquaintance of mine." The older of the two brothers cut off his speech on how evil he was 500 years ago.

Inuyasha sighed. He knew that Kagome would do something like that. Ever since he met her again 5 years ago, she had not changed at all. Even though she was a child once again, her personality was exactly the same as it was when he first met her 500 years ago in the Feudal Era where she freed him from his binds Kikyo had placed on him.

*~Flashback~*

Footsteps thundered down the mansion's corridor as soon as news of the reincarnated priestess was brought back reached the half-demon's ears. His silver hair flowed behind him as he ran to meet her. It has been more than 450 years since he last saw her, since she died due to his inability to protect her. He never forgot his promise to her despite all those years. He had promised her that he would protect her no matter what happens, but she died trying to protect him from defending her. The irony of it never fails to make him smirk at himself, at his inability to protect the people who he cared most about.

"Sesshoumaru… where am I?" the soft childlike voice reached his puppy dog ears as he neared the door of the guest room. Well, it wasn't really a guest room since Sesshoumaru had given orders that the room would be Kagome's. The room was almost exactly as Inuyasha remembered it was when she was fifteen. There was a study desk, along with a huge shelf for books and a princess bed. The half-demon sniggered. Whenever it comes to Sesshoumaru doing the interior design, size and quality matters.

"You're in the Taishou mansion, which is basically my mansion, little miko." The demon lord replied. Inuyasha's eyebrow twitched, it wasn't abnormal for Sesshoumaru for giving people nicknames. However it was his first time hearing his brother giving a non-insulting nickname.

"Taishou mansion?" she asked questioningly, "You own a company? Is that why you are wearing a business suit?" her ocean blue orbs took in the sight of the demon lord. The man didn't reply but he gave a nod of affirmative.

After taking a breath, Inuyasha pushed open the door to see a young girl with bright sapphire blue eyes staring back into his molten gold ones. Her big doe-like eyes widened and she gasped out his name.

"I-Inuyasha!" though her voice was of a much higher pitch than before, it still held the kind and caring edge to it.

The man stared and walked towards her, stopping just before her bed. "Kagome…" he trailed off.

Kagome was shocked to see her old friend standing there by the door. He had changed so much through the decades. Though he still wore the rosary that Kaede had placed on him 500 years ago, he looked striking in his red dress shirt. He grew taller again, almost reaching an impressive 1.9 meters. He had lost his teenage look, his face was slimmer and his eyes were narrower. The silver hair and dog ears Kagome loved so much were still there, the only that changed was his hair length; it was just touching his shoulders.

The half-demon stood in front of her, staring straight into her eyes. Her name rolled off his tongue the same way she remembered he would call her.

Without thinking, Kagome said the only word that formed in her mind.

"Osuwari."

The effect was immediate and Inuyasha was face-planted into the carpeted floor. Sesshoumaru was gazed at his fallen half-brother with an amused glint in his eyes. That sight had never failed to entertain him, not that he would ever admit it. Seeing his half-brother with his infamous temper always being putdown by a mortal girl was amusing. At the same time, Inuyasha would suffer.

"Sorry Inuyasha! It was a reflex to see if you're real!" The young girl exclaimed as she tried to get off the bed to help him up but was stopped by the demon lord.

Then there was silence.

Kagome called out his name again, softer this time.

The half-demon pulled his head up from the crater he formed on the floor and glared at his companion. His nose was a little red due to the impact he just had with the ground, however his eyes were teary. Despite how much he hated Kagome for making him 'kiss' the ground for the umpteenth time, Inuyasha missed her saying that word. Heck, he even missed the feeling of being 'sat'.

Instead of the usual string of colourful language that would come out of the half-demon's mouth, he grabbed Kagome and held to her tightly as though she was his one and only lifeline left.

"Silly girl, the only thing that you say when you finally see me is 'sit'?" Inuyasha muttered into her ebony hair. He buried his face into her face, trying to take in her scent like he did a long time ago.

Kagome gave a small giggle and apologised sincerely nonetheless. "I missed you so much, Inuyasha." She whispered hugging him back equally tight, her small hands clinging onto his red dress shirt.

"I too, missed you more than you can think Kagome." Inuyasha replied affectionately, pulling away from her to take a better look at her face. His large hands cupped her pink-tinted cheeks and he stroked her face gently. In his heart, he did miss her a lot. It was extremely hard for him to accept the fact that his best friend was dead because she protected him. Then, after Sesshoumaru made that wish back then, he thought that he could see Kagome once again but her body disappeared along with Midoriko. And so, Inuyasha waited for almost 500 years just to see her alive and healthy again.

Tears started to blur Kagome's vision, and before she knew it, she burst into tears. "I-I-I really… really thought *hiccup* -thought that I-I'll never see you guys ev-ever again!" She sobbed, crying out all her fears she experienced. Inuyasha immediately held her in his embrace as he comforted her softly.

"It's alright now, you're alive Kagome! That's all that matters now. Sesshoumaru and I would not allow anything to happen to you again." He assured her gingerly.

The child wailed into his embrace where his strong arms held her; the same pair of arms that used to fight for her and carry her around in the past.

Kagome cried out her fears of not meeting her friends anymore, her parents' and grandfather's death, her worries. It was after a long time, till the morning sky had risen high up into the afternoon sky.

Finally, her sobs had become hiccups and sniffs. Taking a deep breath, she pulled away from Inuyasha's embrace. Giving a weak laugh, she said softly, her voice cracked due to crying too much. "Ah, I'm sorry about your shirt Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked down, his favourite red shirt was full of tears stains. He sighed and patted Kagome's head, "Don't worry, it's okay after I wash it." He gave a smile before standing up.

A small pale hand grasped the sleeve of his shirt as he told Sesshoumaru that he'll be going to the company.

"C-Can you stay? Just this once please?" Kagome pleaded, her usual sapphire orbs are bloodshot and puffy.

Inuyasha gave her a warm smile and told her he'll be right there, right beside her, holding to her hand, assuring her that he's right there. Kagome whispered a quiet "Thank you" before falling forward to the floor. Luckily, Inuyasha was as quick as usual, caught her and placed her back onto the bed gently.

His older brother gave a small sigh took his leave, leaving both Kagome and Inuyasha.

He sat there right beside her bed as he promised her, with her hands in his. The half-demon took in the current appearance of his dearest friend. Even though Kagome was a child again, she looked the exact replica of how she looked like when she was fifteen. Well, except for her chest and body figure, her facial appearance were only more rounded due to baby fats.

Inuyasha stroked her hand as he tucked a stray lock of jet black hair behind her ear. "Oyasumi, Kagome." He gave her forehead a peck, "Welcome back." He smiled gently at the sleeping figure before grabbing a nearby magazine and dropping onto the floor and started reading it.

*~End of Flashback~*

"But Aniki, she'll be in danger with those kinds of people!" Inuyasha argued, walking towards the demon lord.

"Enough! You will no longer question her decision or my agreement for her to go there. It was her personal choice to assist me in maintaining our relationship with **them**. She said that she 'wanted to be of some use' to me." At that point, Sesshoumaru scoffed. _'That little miko… always thinking that she wasn't doing enough to help. _The demon lord knew that Kagome was doing him a huge favour by going over to Japan and meet up with **them **but she herself had no idea how important that Sesshoumaru did not dislike **them**, he was honouring an agreement he had with an old acquaintance about 150 years ago. Sesshoumaru had received a call for assistance from **them **recentlybut he was unable to leave his company for the time being and Inuyasha was well, being Inuyasha, unwilling to associate himself with **them**.

A grumble of acknowledgement was heard from Inuyasha. He knew about of the agreement between his brother and **that person**. Maintaining a good relationship with **them **wasn't easy. A wrong decision would cost them dearly, meaning that there would be a possibility of an all-out attack against them.

Shaking his head as he made his way out of the office, he wondered how Kagome was right now. _'I seriously hope she's not in trouble.'_ He had known Kagome long enough to note that Kagome was a trouble-magnet, and a really attractive one too. Everything that would go wrong will go wrong. But in Kagome's case, everything would go wrong. He heaved a sigh, maybe it was time to check on her. Not even one week had passed since he met her, but Inuyasha had a nagging feeling in his chest that would not go away.

'_Please be alright, Kagome…'_ he glanced out of the window and stared at the clear blue skies.

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><p>GUESS WHO'S <strong>HIM<strong>? :)

Heh heh! Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha made their appearance! There would be a few chapters on Kagome's past with Sesshoumaru but it is not coming up anytime soon.

A little flashback on what happened when Kagome met Inuyasha as a child. I'm not planning to make it KagomeXInuyasha since I'm more of a KagomeXSesshoumaru type and I feel that Kag and Inu could be really good friends. Not exactly lovers but more than close friends. Firstly, it's because Kagome was the first person Inuyasha actually trusted and cared for and did not judge him for his Hanyou heritage. And Inuyasha was Kagome's first serious crush but she got over it. So there you have it, a Kagome and Inuyasha friendship.  
>I hope none of the characters are OCC. :X But if they are, please be kind with the comments or flames.<p>

The next update would probably be in one or two week's time. Though there's a possibility that I can update again tomorrow.

Did you like this story? Please review after reading! :)  
>I know it sucks to have authors demanding for reviews or there wouldn't be any updates. But please review! :D (I'll still update, no worries. :D)<p> 


	5. Chapter 4

Author's Note:

Hey all! Thank you lovelyanimeangel, Kagome Lady of Darkness and LoVeKaGoMe4EvA for reviewing the previous chapter :) **That person **will be revealed at a much later date :P Hahaha, one of you already guessed it correctly. LoVeKaGoMe4EvA had requested to have a recap of the previous chapter so there you go ^-^

Finally, I get to do updates somewhat weekly! :D My following week may be a little on the busy side but I'll try to edit it and update soon.

As usual, pardon me for the grammatical errors and possible spelling mistakes. I've tried my best in looking through it.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO TSUNA~~~~ XDDD

Please review after reading! :) Enjoy~

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><p><span>~Previously~:<span>

Shaking his head as he made his way out of the office, he wondered how Kagome was right now. _'I seriously hope she's not in trouble.'_ He had known Kagome long enough to note that Kagome was a trouble-magnet, and a really attractive one too. Everything that would go wrong will go wrong. But in Kagome's case, everything would go wrong. He heaved a sigh, maybe it was time to check on her. Not even one week had passed since he met her, but Inuyasha had a nagging feeling in his chest that would not go away.

'_Please be alright, Kagome…'_ he glanced out of the window and stared at the clear blue skies.

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><p>*Namimori Shopping District*<p>

Two other Namimori Middle Schoolers ran in the shopping district, trying their best to avoid the people without smashing into them.

"Tsuna, that explosion just now," Kagome followed closely behind the brunette who ran faster towards the source of the explosion.

"It couldn't be…" His eyes widened when he saw his storm guardian sitting on the ground with burns over his back. "Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna made his way towards the exhausted silver hair teen.

"Tenth and transfer-ee!" Gokudera was shocked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well… I- I just found out that you're the next target for the guys in Kokuyo Middle School so I came to warn you about it." Tsuna explained.

"Are you all right Gokudera-san?" Kagome asked worriedly. He had quite a few bad burns on his back and scratches by something on his face.

Gokudera was extremely touched that his Tenth came down all the way to find him just to warn him about his attackers. Sitting down on his heels, Gokudera proudly announced, "I'm very touched Tenth! But you don't have to worry I just kill-"

"That person's gone!" Kagome exclaimed looking at the patch of burnt ground.

"What?" The storm guardian was stunned, "There's no one there…" He whacked his brains for possible scenarios that the Kokuyo freshman was able to escape his bombardment of dynamites.

"Hmph. Thank you for saving me the trouble of finding you." The supposed defeated teen was bleeding profusely, with burnt wounds all around his body. He stood a few feet away from them, his glasses were blown away and his clothes were strained with crimson red blood.

"Hiiiiiee!" _'ZOMBIE' _Tsuna mentally screamed. _'This guy is from Kokuyo? He looks really dangerous.'_

A bloodied hand clenched on the yo-yo before it was flung at the Vongola Decimo. Tsuna let out a whimper, bringing up his arms to protect his face and braced himself for the attack which never came. When he opened his eyes, Gokudera's back was facing him with his arms spread out, taking the hit for him.

"Go-Gokudera-kun?"

"Tenth… Please run…" The silver hair teen managed to whisper out before he collapsed onto the ground. His blood was flowing out of his chest rapidly.

"Gokudera-kun! Are you all right? Hang in there, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna was frantic.

Kagome bent down to flip the badly injured teen over to look at his wounds. _'He wouldn't last long if I don't do something!' _

"Hiiiieee!" Tsuna screamed as Chikusa made his way towards him with great difficulty.

"I'll take you away after I break you."

The brunette was frozen in fear. His body refused to listen to what his mind was telling him to do.

"Let's get this done and over with." Then, he flung the yo-yo towards Tsuna with the needles flying out. Tsuna screamed and closed his eyes in fear.

"Ah hah… A Miko… It's so rare to see an actual Miko who has powers." Chikusa said, trying to cover the agony that laced his voice.

'_Miko? Who is a Miko… What is a Miko?' _Tsuna slowly opened his eyes to find out that he and Kagome was surrounded by a pink barrier. The needles that were aiming at him fell onto the ground as soon as the barrier was lifted.

He looked at Kagome in bewilderment as she stood up and faced the freshman from Kokuyo Middle School.

"But… You're in the way." The other teen threw his yo-yos once again only to be rendered useless as soon as it touched the pink barrier that Kagome had drawn up to protect both Tsuna and herself.

"I-It- The yo-yos broke? How did it happen? And Kagome is a Miko? What's a Miko in the first place?" Tsuna was disorientated.

The Kokuyo freshman took out a new pair of glasses from his pocket and placed it on the bridge of his nose. "Who are you?" he wondered. He did not remember seeing a female's name appearing in the list of rankings.

"Who I am is of no concern for you." Kagome replied calmly. She glared at him who was gazing at her with a bored expression. All of a sudden, a passer-by led several other police officers to the place where they just fought.

Chikusa heaved a sigh, "Well, I'll just leave you for Ken to play with…" he retreated from his assault and staggered away from them.

Tsuna watched him disappear into the shadows as he made a turn into a dark alley. His bubble of thought was broken when his name was called by his female friend.

"This is bad…" Kagome surveyed Gokudera's injuries. She pulled out her cell phone and held it out for Tsuna. "Call for help. I'll try to stop his bleeding while it comes."

Tsuna nodded and quickly followed her directions, not wanting to endanger the life of his friend.

As soon as Tsuna had his back turned while calling the ambulance, Kagome got to work quickly. She tore off the jacket and the shirt of the injured silver hair teen, turning him over gingerly to his side so that she could take a better look at his back. _'I didn't want to do this so soon… But I'll just keep this a secret for now. I'll just stop his wounds from bleeding and let the doctors do the rest.' _Kagome pressed her hand gingerly onto his back, healing the burns with a soft pink glow. She watched as the damaged tissue repairing itself rapidly, forming a new layer of skin on his back. _'Fuuu… It has been a really long time since I had to use my powers like this.'_ The girl with ebony hair felt the strain of overusing her powers. Biting on her lower lip while she slowly removed the needles that were partially embedded in his flesh; her pink glowing hands ran over his chest and blood began to clot however the wounds might require stitching. She wrapped the tattered cloth over his wounds as a temporary bandage until he received proper treatment.

"Ka-Kagome, the ambulance is coming in a while. Are you all right? You look a little pale." Tsuna came back with her white phone in his hands.

Said girl simply waved it off with a weary smile. She slumped onto the wall of a shop with her eyes closed, and she cradled her head between her knees, trying to will the nauseous feeling away. It had happened every time she overused her powers. And then, she was in a world of darkness.

* * *

><p>"H-Hey Reborn, she's waking up." Someone said on her right. Kagome groaned as she sat up, her hands cradling her head. <em>'Ugh… Head hurts… It's like it has been rammed by a truck. Ow….' <em>She winced at the bright lights that shone from above.

Reborn hopped onto her lap, "How are you feeling Kagome?" he asked.

"Feels like someone had accidentally swung a bat at my head at full strength… other than that, I'm fine." She placed Reborn on her shoulder before getting out of the bed. "By the way, where're we? What happened? Shouldn't we be in the hospital?" She muttered.

"I had a friend of mine to place you and Gokudera in the school's infirmary as a favour. You passed out due to overtaxing your body." Reborn replied.

All of a sudden, a man wearing a white coat walked towards her. "Darling you're awake!" he took her hand into his and stroked it, giving Kagome goosebumps at the same time. "The name's Shamal, gorgeous." He winked.

"Take your hands off her Shamal, or I'll blow your head." The baby hitman threatened, pointing his green gun at said doctor.

Kagome assured Reborn that it's ok after pulling out her hand from his grasp. "I'm Kagome, a pleasure to meet you." She gave a weak smile when the doctor dramatically yelled that girls nowadays were not as polite and pretty as her.

She sweatdropped when the doctor tried to give her bump a light smack as she got off the bed which was kicked away roughly by Reborn. While thinking how the doctor and the perverted priest were similar, she saw Gokudera on a bed next to hers.

His chest was wrapped with fresh bandages, a rhythmic rising of his chest indicated that he was still well, though laboured breathing could be heard.

The ebony hair girl asked for the condition of Gokudera. Tsuna's head hang low; his hands clenched the fabric of his pants as he told her.

"Shamal said that the needles contain some type of poison or it was contaminated with some bacteria. Though the wounds are not very deep, Gokudera-kun is running a fever right now due to the injuries…" He paused a little; his eyes were pained, as though he was the one who was injured instead. "I-It's all my fault…" Tsuna's chestnut brown eyes gazed at his injured friend, "if he hadn't protected me, he wouldn't be like that now." His voice was laced with guilt and self-blame. "Seems like Dame-Tsuna will always be Dame-Tsuna huh." A weak whisper escaped from his lips as he took his bag and walked out of the infirmary.

Tsuna leaned against the corridor walls and squatted down. If he had known that his friend was going to be injured because he was in his way, he would not have went to find him.

Then, there was a soft click of the door followed by quiet footsteps towards him. "Tsuna." A soft feminine voice called out his name. Despite knowing that Kagome was standing next to him, he did not raise up his head to look at her. The girl with jet black hair gazed at him sympathetically. "Tsuna," she started again, "You don't have the time to be regretting what had happened."

"What do you mean?" he felt a little angry at her. How could she say that! His friend was injured yet she told him not to regret. Before Tsuna could voice his inner thoughts, Kagome continued with a knowing look in her ocean blue eyes.

"You don't have the time to mop around just because your friend got injured for your sake. Gokudera-kun will not blame you for what had happened. To him, he would be glad that he was injured instead of you. To him, you're his best friend, his boss, the one that he looks up to and respects. If he had not protected you and allowed you to get injured, he would be hurting much more than you are now." Sapphire eyes looked straight into chocolate brown ones. "So Tsuna, instead of moping around and drowning yourself in self-pity, get up and find out who exactly was the one who planned the attacks. Then, you are able to prevent any more people you know get hurt since you will be prepared to protect them." Kagome's lips curved upwards into a gentle smile.

She knew Tsuna would feel that way. She herself had experienced that one too many times. The times when Inuyasha had to be injured just to protect her when she was powerless, the times when Sango took a hit that was aimed at her so that she could have enough time to notch an arrow on her bow and fire it, the times when Miroku had to open his wind tunnel to suck in poisonous insects and demons to cover for Inuyasha while he attacked. Kagome hated being a burden, and she knew exactly how it felt to be the only one weighing down the rest and getting in their way due to her recklessness. The priestess didn't want Tsuna to feel the same hurt she felt back then, although none of her friends had blamed her for their injuries.

After listening to Kagome, Tsuna felt guilty for thinking bad about her, and at the same time, he felt much better. It was as though Kagome knew what he wanted to hear. If she had not said anything to him, he would have become even more depressed than he was. The young Vongola boss looked into Kagome's eyes once more to see a hidden meaning behind what she had told him but it vanished as soon as he blinked his eyes. Tsuna briefly wondered what Kagome had gone through to feel the same as he had, maybe even worse than him. He stood up with a refreshed look and faced the girl with ebony hair. "Th-thank you Kagome-chan." He bowed down.

She simply grinned and told him it was nothing and Reborn had something he wanted to tell Tsuna. They went back inside the infirmary to see the infant hitman carrying his green companion.

Upon seeing his student back in the infirmary, Shamal shooed them out of the room so that Gokudera could get some proper rest without Tsuna's shrieking. Reborn then told him that the group that was attacking the students in Namimori Middle School was Kokuyo Gang and the leader had escaped from Vindice.

"Wa-wait a minute? What's Vindice?" Tsuna asked.

"It's a Mafia prison where the most dangerous criminals were locked up if they had broken the Mafia law. No one had ever broken out before, this was the first time. The criminal broke out of the prison together with two of his subordinates." Reborn explained. He had a bad feeling. No one, let alone any living creatures had escaped from the security of Vindice before.

"That person's name is Rokudo Mukuro. According to my information, after the gang had left the prison, they left for Japan. And a few days after that, three foreign students were enrolled into Kokuyo Middle School." Reborn continued, "As soon as they enrolled into the school, he took control of all the school thugs and hoodlums and became their leader."

The young heir of Vongola panicked, asking frantically whether he would be fighting against the Mafia.

Frowning slightly, Reborn told him that this time, he would be fighting for the Mafia. The Kokuyo Gang was exiled from the Mafia and wanted revenge, hence Tsuna had to defeat Rokudo Mukuro.

Tsuna slumped down and grabbed his head with his hands. "What am I going to do? I can't possibly find them and defeat them. I'll get killed first!"

"Even if there's no way, you just have to do it." Reborn smirked as he received a questioning stare from his pupil.

He then took out an envelope with a Vongola seal on it from his suit. After reading the contents of the letter by the Ninth boss of Vongola, Tsuna was in hysterics. He did not want to find the gang and destroy them. He did not even want to do anything that was related to the Mafia at all. However, he would be hunted down and killed if he did not follow the orders of the Nono.

"Ahhh! What should I do?" his hands grabbed his head as he shrieked.

Reborn rolled his eyes at this student's behaviour. "It's either you die trying to defeat them, or just die right now by my hands," threatened the hitman.

"Y-y-y-you got to be kidding!" The brunette stuttered, crawling away from the small man.

A light cough sounded behind Reborn and he was picked up and placed on the shoulder by Kagome. "Relax, both of you. Here Reborn-kun, a candy. Don't worry Tsuna, I'll be going with you!" Kagome smiled brightly at him while she gave Reborn a lollipop. Reborn's eyebrows twitched as he received the sweet from her. _'That lil'girl… Can't she stop treating me like a brat all the time even though she knows my real identity?' _He heaved a sigh and looked at the candy Kagome gave him. To his surprise, it was a coffee flavoured lollipop.

Chocolate brown eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Tsuna saw his Spartan tutor sucking happily on the sweet Kagome gave him. He couldn't believe that Reborn would act like a child and eat a lolly! Then, all of a sudden, he processed Kagome's words.

"Eeehhhhhhhhhhh!"

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><p>CLIFFIE! (Not quite, it's just Tsuna :P)<p>

Haha! I hope I did not make any of the characters too OOC.

I need suggestions for Kagome's other weapon. Well, since she's good with archery, I'm planning to let her have another weapon. So far, I thought it would be cool for her to have handguns. Well, if you guys have any other plans for her, please do suggest! Or if you guys are fine with her using guns, what type of handguns would be suitable for her? Help me please! D: Cause if I don't come up with a proper weapon for her, I can't really continue.

Reviews are much loved! :)

Liked this chapter? Review please! 3

Chiibiisuke~


	6. Chapter 5

Author's Note: I'm sorry for this chapter! It's shorter than the usual 3k+ words. But there's an annoying thing called Project Work in Junior College that is *&$#( irritating. And utterly disturbing when you got two guys in your group having dirty talk DURING the group discussion AND when GIRL PRESENT! =.= Scarred for life and my ears are contaminated. ._.

Haha! Anyways, that aside, I hope this is the last of the 'filler/introduction' chapter. The subsequent few will be all about Mukuro's arc! :) BIG HUGS TO THOSE WHO HAD REVIEWED! 19 reviews for 5 chapters is not bad :) But do review more :D Haha! Thank you to those who had put this story on alert and favourite. ^-^

As usual, enjoy reading and drop a review after that! :D

* * *

><p><em>Previously,<em>

_Chocolate brown eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Tsuna saw his Spartan tutor sucking happily on the sweet Kagome gave him. He couldn't believe that Reborn would act like a child and eat a lolly! Then, all of a sudden, he processed Kagome's words._

"_Eeehhhhhhhhhhh!" _

* * *

><p>"B-b-but Kagome-chan! Why would you want to come too?" exclaimed Tsuna.<p>

The girl with raven hair chuckled at his antics before explaining. "Well, I do know that you don't want to be involved or work for the Mafia. But even if you keep running away from it, it'll just come towards you. So why not just face it straight on and not run away? And you should not forget what they did just to locate you, Tsuna."

Images of Ryohei all bandaged up, laying on a hospital bed and Gokudera taking the attack for him flowed to his mind.

"That… I think what they are doing are wrong, using my friends as bait to lure me out. That Mukuro pisses me off! But then, even Hibari-san has not returned. How could me, Dame-Tsuna, defeat a guy like him? That's just plain reckless." Tsuna muttered, his eyes glued to the floor.

"However the people around you do not think so you know." Reborn grinned while looking at Kagome.

"I'll be there to help you Tsuna, so don't worry." Kagome assured him firmly. "Just believe in yourself and do it."

Suddenly, the infirmary door slammed open and a healthy looking Storm Guardian walked out as though he had not suffered from any heavy injuries.

"Please take me with you Tenth!"

A bewildered Tsuna gasped loudly. "Gokudera-kun! How are your wounds? Are you even supposed to get out of bed that quickly?"

Gokudera announced haughtily that his injuries are just scratches, nothing serious.

'_It would have been more than scratches if I didn't clot your wounds! He shouldn't even be out of his bed in the first place. His body isn't in the condition for fighting, yet he looked as though he had not been injured in the first place.'_ Kagome thought, feeling a little annoyed that Gokudera was that arrogant. Well, perhaps he just didn't want Tsuna to feel guilty after all. She heaved a sigh while Gokudera was enthusiastically waiting for Tsuna's command to move.

The sound of footsteps could be heard from behind. The Shikon Miko turned around to see Yamamoto grinning from ear to ear, carrying his baseball bat and told Tsuna casually that he would go along too.

"I heard from the kid that you're going to play mafia with another school Tsuna. I'm surprised that Kagome had joined the game. Isn't mafia only for males?" Yamamoto looked at said girl questioningly.

Tsuna resisted the urge to face-palm himself at his classmate's denseness. _'You're totally being duped, Yamamoto.´_

A sigh came from Kagome, "Are you trying to be sexist, Takeshi-kun?" her joking tone did not hide the fact that her sapphire orbs turned cold for a moment.

Sensing the rising tension from Kagome, Yamamoto quickly denied it and told her that so far, she was the only girl who played the 'Mafia game' with them.

"Ok, now we've gotten the people we need to charge into the enemies' territory. I know where their hideout is, and their captives are most probably there." Reborn announced, walking away from them, out of the school.

"Captives?" Tsuna asked.

The baby hitman nodded, "It is someone who you know fairly well."

* * *

><p>After Yamamoto and Gokudera had gotten their things ready, they as well as Tsuna had followed Kagome to a high-rise apartment that was just recently built near Tsuna's house. Kagome had requested that she made a trip to her house to grab a few of her belongings before setting off.<p>

"Welcome back Kagome-hime!" The bellboy bowed deep and opened the door for her and her friends and said girl gave him a grateful smile in return.

The jaws of all three guardians promptly dropped the instant they stepped inside Kagome's so-called 'apartment'. Heck! Calling it an apartment was practically putting it to shame! It was a penthouse on the top floor of the building and the living room showcased the entire view of Namimori.

A middle age man wearing a suit came up to Kagome and bowed deeply, "Welcome home Kagome-hime." He greeted her with utmost respect.

"I'm home Narita-san." She handed her school bag to him and continued, "These are my friends, please prepare some drinks for them." she thanked the butler and faced Tsuna and his friends. "Please excuse me for a while, I'll get changed and grab a few things before leaving. Sorry for making you guys come with me."

"Haha! It's okay Kagome. We wanted to see how your house looked like too! But what can I say, it's really big and spacious and really pretty!" Yamamoto grinned, patting her on her back.

Kagome grimaced, "It's not exactly how I wanted it to be but my guardian wanted everything to be the best. So he got me this apartment and Narita-san as my personal butler." She sighed. Sesshoumaru sure knows how to spurge his money on. If she hadn't argued with him, he would probably buy her a bungalow somewhere near Tsuna's house which was too big for her to live in since she was living alone.

Reborn's eyebrow rose when he heard her muttering about "that stupid dog just don't know how to live a NORMAL life." Kagome frowned a little before heaving a sigh and stood up.

Looking at Reborn, she excused herself politely and left the group to change out of her uniform. The rest had already returned to their homes and removed their uniforms into more comfortable clothes. Tsuna was wearing his favourite light blue long sleeve shirt with a 27 sewn in front of his chest and brown pants tied tightly around his waist with a belt. Yamamoto wore a turtleneck jacket that was green with hints of blue and black pants, while Gokudera was dressed in a hot pink shirt decorated by skulls and white dress shirt over his t-shirt and pants and his usual chains and rings as accessories.

"I didn't know that Kagome was this rich…" Yamamoto told his friends, his head was turning around so much that it was straining his neck.

"I-I didn't know too…" Tsuna replied as he fidgeted. He glanced at his tutor who was playing with Leon who became a soft pile of green goo.

Tsuna was going to take a sip from his teacup when Reborn spoke. "Tsuna, you'd better be careful."

"Eh?"

"When Leon was in this condition, my students tend to be in a near-death experience." He said while squishing his green partner.

Tsuna's heart skipped a beat. "You mean Dino-san too? Anyways, can you not say any ominous things before we leave!" he was totally flustered.

Taking off his fedora, Reborn placed a spherical Leon inside. "I need to let Leon rest for a while." Placing his fedora back on his spikey hair, he continued, "Oh, and I'm not going to fight, so do your best."

"Ehhhh! Why?" Tsuna was in a state of panic. "Seriously? I thought we'll be able to handle the Kokuyo gang because you'd be there!"

"The orders from the Ninth are only for you this time. I'm only allowed to fire Dying Will bullets and nothing else." Reborn deadpanned.

Tsuna's eyes widened. "That's the worse rule ever!"

"And I can only use one Dying Will bullet." Reborn opened up his tiny fist and showed them the single red bullet sitting on his palm.

Gokudera gave him a quizzical look, "Why there is only one bullet left Reborn-san?"

"The Dying Will bullets are made inside Leon's body. However in his current state, he can't produce more." Then, the tutor stuffed the bullet into his pocket.

"Really?" Both Decimo and his storm guardian yelled while his other guardian laughed at their reactions, earning him a glare from Gokudera.

"I'm really glad that you can't shoot me, but this isn't good! What should I do?" Tsuna panicked.

Upon hearing this, his right-hand man took out sticks of dynamites and assured him that he would protect him so he should not worry. Yamamoto nodded in agreement and said, "Don't worry too much Tsuna. If we ever get hungry, I brought tea and sushi along." He smiled good-naturedly.

"This isn't a field trip you baseball nut!" Gokudera chided, "And that's totally unrelated to what we are talking about!"

They started discussing what they would do when they entered the enemy's territory with a one-sided argument from Gokudera and Yamamoto. After a minute or so, Kagome reappeared from her room, holding onto her cell phone. She wore a navy blue turtleneck sweater and black skinny jeans that hugged her figure. On her shoulder were a quiver of arrows and a traditional longbow. There was a black pouch on her hips and two gun holders are strapped to her thighs. Her long jet black hair was tied up in a high ponytail.

"Sorry for making you guys wait." Kagome apologized, accepting a pair of semi-automatic handguns from her butler and slipping it into the gun holders. "I had to make a call to a close friend of mine." _'I hope he can reach here on time.'_ She straightened herself and grinned at the group.

Tsuna's eyes widened when he saw Kagome receiving the guns. It couldn't be real, could it? He didn't know much about guns but he did know that the guns Kagome was carrying in her gun holders were deadly. "A-Are those real guns Kagome-chan?" He gulped, hoping that the girl would deny it.

"Yeap, they're 100% real. It's just that my guardian had kept my other weapon for repairs. So I have to make do with these instead." She gave a wry smile and patted her guns.

"Eh? Then what is you main weapon, Kagome?" Yamamoto asked, curious about what Kagome could wield and defend herself.

"That's a se-cret."She winked, causing blood to gush into the faces of the males present in the room.

A slightly strained clearing of throat was heard from Reborn. "Okay, now we're all set. Let's go beat Mukuro." Reborn announced and the group replied with an affirmative.

* * *

><p>Somewhere away from Namimori, the man sighed clutching his phone in his hands. <em>'That girl… she really knows nothing but trouble.' <em>Suddenly, his phone rang due to an incoming call from someone he had dubbed 'brat' in his phone.

"Yo, you called?"

"Hey brat, Kagome has called. Grab your things. We're leaving in 5 minutes. I'll meet you at the gates." He spoke in a gruff voice.

"Okay okay, I got it. Don't have to be all bitchy on me." The other voice replied and quickly hung up on him before the man could explode his eardrums from his infamous shouting.

The man threw his phone onto his desk and grumbled. "Darn that Kagome. She owed me for his one."

Meanwhile outside Kokuyo Land, a certain priestess sneezed.

* * *

><p>Yes, I know it's on the short side. But please forgive me! *bows* Project work has been roaming around and killing brain cells. AND it's just after the Promotional Exams.<p>

Next chapter is coming up one week later! ;)

I'm still stuck with deciding what weapon to give Kagome! These are what I had thought up as well as some suggested ones:  
>- Tessen (iron fan) [It's similar to the ones Kagura use]<br>- Katana (Sword)  
>- Soul Blade (It's a sword with Kagome's purifying aura)<br>- Handguns / Sniper  
>- Gunblade [Final Fantasy idea...]<p>

Please VOTE! Or Kagome can't have a decent melee weapon. . What do you guys think? Do tell me what kind of weapon you prefer Kagome to have.

Thank you so much! REVIEWS PLEASE!

Chiibiisuke~


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **

**Hey guys! I'm really very sorry for the super long delay! *Dodges all the rotten food* *A smelly shoe flew over my head* I didn't expect myself to be so busy after that last update. I had already written this chapter quite a long while ago but kept feeling that something's off so I kept editing it. :x **

**Many thanks to those lovelies who had favourited/subscribed and most of all, REVIEWED this story! I've got more to say but I'll just leave it at the end of the chapter :) As usual, I tried my best with my grammar, so if there's any mistakes, do let me know. (And I still don't have a Beta-reader for this story yet!)**

**So for now, just sit back and enjoy this chapter! :D**

* * *

><p><em>Previously…<em>

_Somewhere away from Namimori, the man sighed clutching his phone in his hands. 'That girl… she really knows nothing but trouble.' Suddenly, his phone rang due to an incoming call from someone he had dubbed 'brat' in his phone. _

"_Yo."_

"_Hey brat, Kagome has called. Grab your things. We're leaving in 5 minutes. I'll meet you at the gates." He spoke in a gruff voice. _

"_Okay okay, I got it. Don't have to be all bitchy on me." The other voice replied and hung up on him before the man could explode his eardrums from his infamous shouting. _

_The man threw his phone onto his desk and grumbled. "Darn that Kagome. She owed me for his one." _

_Meanwhile outside Kokuyo Land, a certain priestess sneezed. _

* * *

><p>* Five years ago, one day after the accident*<p>

*Taishou Mansion, Tokyo*

The young priestess was curled up in a ball at one corner of her bedroom, tears made their way down her pale cheeks, marking their road down in watery tracks. Burying her face in her arms that wrapped around her knees, she bit her lip to stop any sound of sorrow escape. She did not want this to happen! After all these time, 2 years in fact, since she was dragged into the well by the Centipede Mistress, they had finally killed Naraku and finished their quest on finding the shards of Shikon no Tama, her family was killed. Her mama, papa and grandpa were dead, because of her. They were innocent! Her papa didn't even know what happened to her in her previous life since he had passed away since she was 10. And because of her, Souta has no parents to grow up with.

Just because of her…

It's all her fault…

Shadows stood outside the door to her room, whispering.

"Do you really have to do this Aniki? Even though she is actually a teenager, she just lost her parents and grandfather!" Inuyasha glared at his half-brother.

He had tried his best to prevent him from telling Kagome what had happened right after her 'death'. However, the demon lord did not agree and told Kagome what he had wished on the Shikon no Tama she had entrusted him to the moment she had woken up from her sleep. Despite the consequences that Midoriko had warned him of; he insisted his wish to be fulfilled, in order to honour the human priestess who not only saved his ward and his land but the entire Japan from disappearing from existence.

Inuyasha knew that Kagome could not take the cruel reality of Sesshoumaru sacrificing her parents' and grandfather's lives to let her live again. Her personality was something they used to joke about, about Kagome having a weird hero-complex which makes her want to save people all the time and not letting anyone innocent to be hurt because of them. Because of her self-sacrificing nature, she died trying to protect him.

_He looked into her ocean blue eyes filled with tears pleading, no, begging him to deny the fact that the demon lord actually did it. He couldn't stand the sight of her tears even though he had seen her cry too many times in the feudal era. It felt as though his entire heart was being stabbed. Seeing the young girl so torn between crying and getting angry with his half-brother, Inuyasha practically crushed her in his embrace as she screamed in anguish and sorrow. Her tiny fists clenched tightly on the material of his suit as she buried her face into his chest and let her tears flow. _

"_Why? Why did you have to make that kind of wish Sesshoumaru?" her voice cracked at his name._

"_My parents are innocent! Though grandpa is old, they didn't have to die because of me! And Souta…" she sniffed, "lost both of his parents just because of me!" She yelled, glaring at the Daiyoukai through her tears. _

"_It was necessary, Miko-" Sesshoumaru sighed. She was exactly what Inuyasha had warned him about. _

"_What was? What is my happiness without my family?" She demanded, her blue eyes turned icy cold in anger._

"_Miko, you had entrusted me with the jewel. If I had made any other kinds of wishes I had in mind, the jewel will be corrupted again and no one will have the power to purify it. And that wish I had made, wasn't exactly unselfish." The demon lord explained, shaking his head when Kagome made an attempt to hit him. _

"_There is no such thing as an unselfish wish Miko. If one wants to wish for something, it is selfish because he or she wanted it to come true. I can't wish it to disappear because that is a selfish wish. So I decided to wish for you to live again and your happiness with a price. Nothing can be gained without a price. Understand that Kagome." Sesshoumaru bent down and patted her head. _

_Kagome had finally calmed down after a few minutes and gave a slight nod, telling Sesshoumaru that she heard him. "C-Can…" she cleared her throat, "can you guys just leave me alone for a while?" she pushed away from Inuyasha's chest and stood up. _

"_Kagome…" _

"_Come, let's go." Sesshoumaru pulled his brother away from her as they walked out. Before Inuyasha could retort him, he told him to let Kagome to have some time to herself to mourn for her family and think. _

And so, Kagome had been curled up there for the entire afternoon. Her soft murmurs of everything were her fault did not escape the sharp hearing of the Inu Youkai outside her door.

It was until nightfall when she finally left her space and almost tripped over a sleeping Inuyasha in the corridors next to her door. A bitter smile ghosted across her lips. Although his appearance had changed after all those centuries, his personality never changed after all.

It was as though Inuyasha could hear her thoughts; he woke up and gave her a grin. "What wench? Miss me calling you that?" he gave a smirk when Kagome tried to glare at him but failed. His smile faltered a little but gave her an understanding look nonetheless. Her sapphire blue eyes were dull and bloodshot due to the long periods of crying she had went through.

"W-Where's Sesshoumaru?"

"In his office on the second floor at the east wing," Inuyasha replied.

"Bring me there?" she requested, "I-I want to talk to him for a bit."

Giving a grunt as his reply, he stood up and lifted Kagome off the floor and carried her in his arms, ignoring her whims about being able to walk on her own.

"You look as though you're gonna topple over any minute wench. And I don't want to explain to Sesshoumaru how you manage to faint in my presence." Inuyasha was smug as Kagome gave him a mortified look.

"But I'm fine!" she insisted stubbornly.

"Then just let me be selfish for a little while," he held the young girl closer to his chest. "I haven't seen you, heard you, touched you or smelled you for almost 5 centuries. Can't you go along with an old man's whims?" he jokingly commented.

"Old? You can hardly make it past 21 years old and you say you're OLD?" Kagome gave a punch to his chest while she giggled.

A rumble rose up from his chest, making Kagome laugh even harder.

* * *

><p>*Present Day*<p>

*Outside KokuyoLand*

Kagome sneezed.

"A-Are you okay Kagome-chan?" A concerned voice asked her.

She gave a nod frowning, "Someone must be talking about me behind my back and I get this feeling that it is someone I know very well."

Tsuna looked around after they got off the bus at Kokuyo Land. The highway was deserted, and there was not a single person in sight, making the place even more eerie.

"It's really quiet…" Kagome commented, glancing around the bus stop.

Reborn nodded, "Since the new highway had opened, cars don't travel here anymore."

A gasp of shock came from Tsuna. His chocolate brown eyes widened at the sight of Kokuyo Land. The place looked as though it was halfway through the deconstruction of it but it was abandoned there. Dirt and sediments had covered majority of the infrastructure and heaps of rocks and boulders were in random places.

"It feels really creepy." A shiver went up the brunette's spine. He fidgeted restlessly as he shuffled nervously.

"Is this whole area abandoned?" Gokudera asked Reborn who was sitting on Kagome's shoulder.

"Well, it could be just it. It used to be a compound recreational area called Kokuyo Centre.

"Kokuyo Centre… Ah! I've been here before! It was really long ago since I came here with my parents!" Tsuna recalled, "That's right! There was a karaoke club, a movie theatre, and a small exhibition area for the floral and faunal."

"There was even a plan for renovation. But two years ago, a typhoon came through and caused a mudslide. After that typhoon, the plan was cancelled and it's been locked up in this condition ever since." Reborn explained.

Kagome glanced at the run-down place. "It's as though it is the remnants of a broken dream…"

Reborn pointed towards Kokuyo Centre and declared that Tsuna would lead them the way since he had been there before.

"I've been here before, but it was a long, long time ago!" He complained but was immediately silenced by a glare from his tutor.

Kagome walked towards the gates and inspected the condition of it. The lock was dyed in a reddish brown colour of rust. The gates were also filled with dust and had already been thoroughly oxidised by Mother Nature. "It looks like those guys didn't use this gate as an entrance." She fiddled with the lock and looked back at the group.

"W-what should we do Reborn?" the brunette standing behind Kagome stuttered.

"We've already decided, right?" Reborn grinned as Gokudera whipped out 3 sticks of dynamites and smirked.

"We go straight through the front door, Tenth!" He lighted the explosives in his hands and yelled, "Move it, transfer-ee!" and with Kagome out of the way, he threw the bombs, blasting open the gates before Tsuna could stop him from doing so.

Feeling that they were being spied at, Kagome's eyes narrowed as she whipped her head around, trying to find the enemy.

"Is anything wrong Kagome?" Yamamoto asked her, noting her restlessness.

She paused a while, then shaking her head as the deadly aura disappeared suddenly. "It's nothing. Must be my imagination." Kagome assured him with crooked smile.

* * *

><p>As they made their way inside, Tsuna could not help glancing around at the place. His heart pounded hard and fast as he took every step. For some reason, he felt there was something wrong, as though there was someone spying on them. "I'm getting nervous…" he whined but was promptly ignored by the rest of the group.<p>

"Alright. Let's do a thorough search of the buildings all the way to the summit." Reborn announced as Kagome hummed in agreement. Her hands were never far from the handles of her handguns.

"This is really cool! Tsuna, your mafia role-play is super real!" Yamamoto sounded really enthusiastic as he chuckled happily.

Annoyed, Gokudera scowled behind him and his growing irritation was obvious from the variety of vulgarities coming out from his mouth. Kagome's eyebrow twitched in amusement as she listened to the one-sided argument Gokudera was having with Yamamoto.

"If my memory didn't fail me, there was an exhibit with flora and fauna around here…" Tsuna trailed off, his eyes scanned the deserted area.

Kagome said hesitantly, "But there doesn't look to be anything that looked like it here." Her sapphire surveyed the ruins.

"You really have holes for eyes, stupid student." Reborn remarked, causing the brunette to flinch.

"Re-Reborn-san!" Gokudera interjected before the hitman could say anymore to demoralise his student.

Yamamoto bent over and was staring at something for a while. The raven hair girl noticed it and made a beeline for him. "What's wrong Takeshi-kun?" she squatted down beside him and saw a paw print on the ground.

"Looks like an animal print." Reborn observed.

"What do you think, kid? It could be a dog but the print is way too big for that." Yamamoto placed his hand above the paw print. _'If it's a dog, it must be one hell of it. It's paw is almost as big as my hand!' _

"The tree trunk here has been gouged out…" Gokudera touched the disfigured tree, deep in thought.

"The shape that has been gouged out looks like it had been bitten off by some kind of fangs." Reborn said thoughtfully.

A girly scream came from the brunette who was panicking. "M-M-Maybe there's some kind of animal that eats trees whole-!" he stammered out and tugged at the hem of his shirt.

Tsuna glanced over at Kagome. Her hands gripped the handles of her guns tightly as Gokudera saw the remnants of cages that used to keep the animals. "The cage has been eaten through!" he called out after examining the cages at a closer distance.

"Something's coming…" the priestess whispered to Yamamoto as they tensed up.

As soon as Gokudera warned everyone to be careful, a hostile presence appeared behind Kagome. Her guns were out of their holders and she fired at a lightning speed at the attacker. Kagome's eyes widened the moment the bullets reached their target. "The dogs! They're already dead!" She gasped in horror. It was not possible for humans to control the corpses of dogs! The only person she knew who was able to control dead bodies was Kagura, but she was killed by Naraku for betraying his location for Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru both siblings had hunted him down. However, the demons in present time were more conservative and did not misuse their powers as often as the past.

Upon hearing Kagome's warning of the attackers, Yamamoto and Gokudera were tensed as they scanned the area for the remaining zombie dogs. Without any prior warning, three other dogs jumped out of the shrubs and charged towards the Vongola family. Yamamoto had just barely stopped the dog from biting his face off by blocking the attack with his metal bat while Gokudera blocked the animated corpse of the dog with his arms.

"EEEEEEEEEEE! What the heck is going on?" Tsuna shrieked in horror before running away from the undead dogs.

Seeing his friend in danger, Yamamoto rushed to his help. "Come over here, Tsuna!" he yelled, waving his arms to his friend who started changing direction and ran towards him.

"Hurry! This way!" Kagome quickly ushered them together before notching an arrow on her bow.

Once everyone was behind her and the animated corpses charging towards them as a group, the priestess fired an arrow. Warm pink energy emitted from her arrow purified the undead and left nothing but ashes.

Before anyone could breathe a sigh of relief and question the raven hair girl how she did it, a humanoid figure leapt out from the ground and pounced on Yamamoto who managed to move out of the way in time. However, the Rain Guardian backwards onto the ground, causing cracks to appear and the entire surface he was on gave way.

"UWAAH!" Yamamoto Takeshi gave a yelp of surprise before falling into the pit.

"W-w-w-what was that?" Tsuna stuttered, turning back to face Yamamoto but a hole replaced the place where Yamamoto was at just now. Out of the blue, an animal looking human dived in after him.

"I thought I saw a human figure jumping in to the hole!" Gokudera said, running towards the hole.

"Hey! Takeshi-kun! Are you alright?" Kagome called from above, slipping one of her handguns back into its holder.

Said teen sat up and rubbed his head, "Ahaha! That was surprising. It hurts… But I can manage somehow." He replied, looking up at his companions.

"Well, it seems that stupid Tsuna's memory wasn't wrong. There is indeed an exhibition area. And apparently, we're standing on top of it." Reborn commented offhandedly, "It must have been buried by the mudslide." He peered downwards to where Yamamoto had landed.

"Eeeh? So we're standing on the top of the exhibit?" Tsuna exclaimed, shocked that the entire area was covered by dirt.

"You're just holding us up, Baseball freak!" Gokudera demanded angrily. Yamamoto glanced up and gave a sheepish laugh and a half-hearted apology which caused the silver hair teen to be even more annoyed.

"Takeshi-kun! Please be careful! That thing that attacked you is down there with you!" Kagome warned, "There's something on your right!"

Sensing a hostile presence from the said direction, Yamamoto braced himself for the attack. Glaring into the darkness, he saw a pair of yellow eyes observing him.

Panicking, Tsuna shouted. "What's that! It looks like an animal!" he gulped in fear. "What should we do, Reborn?" his voice was half-crazed with worry for his friend.

"Well, I think that the opponent separated him from us so that we can't do anything to help and to watch only." Reborn glanced at Kagome.

Kagome knew that some battles were meant for one person only. However, she couldn't help but be worried for her new friend who was possibly fighting to protect his life. The priestess wanted to leap down the hole and fight together with Yamamoto but a warning gaze from Reborn stopped her from doing so. His eyes were telling her to not interfere with his battle as he would need the experience to grow and mature. She then begrudgingly kept away her remaining gun and bent down over the hole.

"I welcome you here, Yamamoto Takeshi." A male voice was heard from the shadows. Footsteps echoed within the small area of the exhibit.

Yamamoto's eyes narrowed as he tried to make out the identity of the silhouette. "You know, Kakipi's asleep… And I'm bored since there's no orders for me to do. And then here comes my prey, I'm so happy." The figure walked out of the darkness.

"Eh? That's a person!" Tsuna gasped. He thought it might have been an animal since he swore he saw fur on that person.

"He's wearing the Kokuyo uniform, Tenth." Gokudera warned, "He's one of them!"

The Kokuyo student looked up and smirked. "So you guys are his friends. Don't worry, after I'm done with him, I'll come up and finish all of you one by one."

Tsuna peered down, afraid. _'This guy seems dangerous too!'_

"You-You're almost like a dog!" Yamamoto commented good-naturedly, "You like playing pretend?"

The two teenage boys almost felt like slapping their hands to their foreheads. After all these while, Yamamoto still thinks that it's a game.

Kagome sighed, "That idiot…"

Down below, the one that introduced himself as Joshima Ken stared at the guardian as though he had grown another head. "Are you a ditz? Well, it doesn't matter anyway." And then all of the sudden, he charged towards Yamamoto like a raging bull whom avoided him swiftly.

In the darkness, Yamamoto managed to catch a glimpse of something white that was inserted into his opponent's mouth. Growls echoed within the small interior of the exhibit.

* * *

><p>Above, the four of them saw the transformation of the Kokuyo Middle Schooler. Strips of some sort framed his scarred face and black streaks appeared on his arms and neck.<p>

"That's not a human skill!" Kagome was stunned. She hadn't factored in the possibility of fighting against Youkai, especially with normal humans around. The thing that worries her the most was that she could not feel any demonic aura from the Kokuyo student. "Re-Reborn-kun, is that guy a human?" She asked cautiously, her eyes narrowed. She had not fought an actual Youkai for quite some time as the Youkai population in Britain was much lower than in Japan. Kagome notched her arrow on her bow and was prepared to jump in to exorcize the demon but was stopped by the mini-hitman.

Reborn, knowing her Miko background, placed his tiny hand on her shoulder and assured her. "Wait Kagome, he's a human. But according to the information I had received, both him and the guy who attacked Gokudera were the test subjects of human experiments."

"How cruel…" Tsuna grimaced.

Gokudera agreed and muttered a string of colourful language that could almost be on par with a certain half-demon Kagome knew.

* * *

><p>"Itedakimasu!~" Ken pounced on Yamamoto, who barely had enough time to pull out his baseball bat to prevent the animal-like human from biting his face off. The cracking of metal was heard before a sharp 'ping' followed, signalling the breaking of the bat.<p>

"Yamamoto's bat has been…" Tsuna was horrified. His chocolate brown eyes were wide as he worried for the safety of his friend.

The Kokuyo Middle Schooler leapt away, sticking out his tongue in a scoffing manner and spitting out the metal bits from the metal bat. "I'll chew off you neck next."

Above the fight, Tsuna's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. That guy just bit the metal baseball bat into two! "Is he still a human?" he exclaimed.

Yamamoto heaved a sigh as he looked at his destroyed bat. "I see… So it's okay to beat up the opponent without holding back, huh?" He smirked and glared at Ken with serious and narrowed eyes. "That's the rules, isn't it?"

"Takeshi-kun…" Kagome glanced down worriedly. Although she had only met him today, she had a feeling that Yamamoto wasn't the kind of people who would get angry easily. However, he's pretty serious right now and he's not afraid at all. It's like he did not know any fear.

Reborn gave a chuckle before answering Tsuna about Yamamoto being serious for the very few times. "He's a pretty tough guy despite his happy-go-lucky attitude and looks. He probably won't play Mister Nice-Guy anymore after his favourite bat was chewed into half but that idiot dog."

The teen with short jet black hair removed his bag that used to contain his bat and tossed it on the ground, he glared at the other male with narrowed eyes. "Before we start fighting, can I ask you something?" his voice was laced with seriousness as he drew out a katana from the sling bag. "You… When did you change your appearance? When did you change your face?" Yamamoto's face did an amazing switch from fierce to curious.

The other teen fighting against him almost collapsed onto the ground after listening to his question. Could that baseball idiot get any denser? He expected him to ask him something about their motives for attacking the Namimori Middle Schoolers or why are they aiming at the Vongola boss. His jaw slightly ajar, "You really are a hopeless ditz…" he commented.

Standing straight to his full height, he replied. "All right, I'll tell you. You know games are played on a console if you just change the cartridge. My abilities are the same as that. By interchanging cartridges, I gain different types of abilities animals had and can activate them according to what I like." He explained and showed Yamamoto three different types of fangs. Removing the fangs he was wearing just now, he replaced it with another one that has bigger canines. He let out a primitive growl and dropped onto the ground. A thick dark brown coat of fur covered his body and his fisted hands expanded. The dirty green uniform was stretched to its limit and was only barely closed by stressed buttons as the Kokuyo student grew more than thrice his normal size.

"Kong Channel."

Yamamoto blew a low whistle. "Woah… Nice monkey…" He started retreating backwards, away from the human-turned-primate.

"Hmmm… That's a gorilla, also known as the king of all primates." Reborn rubbed his chin while peering down the small hole with the other 3 teens.

"T-T-THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Tsuna exclaimed.

Kagome and Gokudera shared the same look of amusement. "I didn't know that a normal human is able to change into an animal or anything similar to one." The girl mused.

"It's called advancement in technology, transfer-ee!" snapped Gokudera, earning a hard glare from the raven haired girl.

"Anyway, is that the newest type of cosplaying?" Yamamoto laughed, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"What. I've. Been. Saying. All. These. Time. Is. That's not it!" a loud growl erupted from Ken. The Rain Guardian gave a surprised yelp before the beast grabbed him around the waist and tossed him towards the opposite wall, causing the glass panels to shatter upon impact. His katana was then broken into halves by the new strength of his enemy and then tossed to a corner of the area.

Yells of "Yamamoto" and "Takeshi-kun" were heard from above. Tsuna gripped the edge of the hole so tightly until his knuckles turned white.

"Damn it! It's too dark down there! I make out anything that is happening down there!" Gokudera cussed as he strained his eyes to make out the silhouettes in the darkness below.

Yamamoto fell onto his knees and gasped for breath. The impact he had with the glass panels broke the glass and the glass shards caused him a number of scratches and lacerations. "That little twerp…" he muttered. A sharp jolt of pain shot up from his left shoulder, making him wince from the aching pain. Glancing at his shoulder, his right arm cradled it gingerly. It must have been dislocated when he collided with the glass, followed by falling on his already injured shoulder.

"Awww… What's wrong? Are you injured?" the Kokuyo teen taunted. "Come on, come on. Don't go taking a break now~" Sniggers echoed from all directions.

Clutching tightly to his dislocated shoulder and his broken katana handle, Yamamoto dodged a few attacks and ran towards the centre of the exhibit.

"No matter how far you run or try to hide, you can't escape me. You got that stench of blood of the dead dogs. And when I'm in my Wolf Channel, I can sniff you out right away!" Ken pounced, which the Rain Guardian avoiding the attack by mere centimetres. Falling onto his bum, Yamamoto Takeshi landed under where he had fallen down from.

"Tch! I can't see well it the dark." His eyes darted around the pitch black area, trying to make out shadows from silhouettes.

"Yamamoto!" Tsuna yelled worriedly.

"Screw it! I can't see anything at all!" Gokudera whipped out several dynamites and prepared to toss them down the hole only to be halted by Reborn.

"If you toss one single explosive down, not only Yamamoto and the monkey brat will be injured. The structure will give way and the whole entire exhibit will collapse with us on it." Reborn explained.

Gokudera let out a huff and sat back down watching his classmate fumble around in the darkness.

Then, Kagome realized that Yamamoto's fighting style was slightly off. After stating her observations that he was fighting as though he did not want himself to be injured, Tsuna recalled that Takeshi had an upcoming baseball competition. That competition was one which Yamamoto stayed back and practiced and trained so hard for ever since he was selected as a regular. The first time when he ever met Yamamoto was when he wanted to commit suicide just because he broke his arm and was unable to play baseball. To Yamamoto, baseball was everything! Tsuna couldn't let his friend give up his most important thing just to play the 'mafia game'. He didn't want to ruin his friend's future just because he himself was associated with the actual Mafia.

"With his sword broken, Takeshi-kun is at a disadvantage. He has no reach so he can't get close to the enemy. He can't even go close to that monkey guy to deal the finishing blow." Kagome said.

"Do you think that just by running away, you can draw out this fight with an opponent like me?" Ken smirked.

Yamamoto gave a sheepish smile, "Eh, you found out? Hahaha! It's nothing like that at all. I just have other important things to do this autumn besides the whole mafia game." He rubbed the back of his neck and grinned.

"I seriously don't get you, moron!" The Kokuyo Middle Schooler made a swept towards Yamamoto, causing him to move backwards to dodge the attack and he only has his arms to protect himself from any fatal injuries.

'_If anything happened to Yamamoto, he'll definitely be very upset that his injury caused him to be unable to participate in the match.' _Tsuna clenched his fists tightly and started blaming himself, "It's all my fault, I shouldn't have brought Yamamoto along."

Before Kagome could say anything, the small hitman gave his student a rough kick on his butt, causing him to fall into the hole. "If you are worried that it's your fault to bring Yamamoto along, go help him then."

Tsuna landed heavily onto the ground with a loud thud and a girly wince about how cruel Reborn was. Both teens fighting stopped their attacks immediately and stared at Tsuna who was on his knees and massaging his butt which had suffered the impact of the fall.

"What are you doing Reborn-san?" Gokudera exclaimed, shocked that the hitman would actually send his pupil down even though he knew consequences.

Kagome was stunned. "That was a little harsh Reborn-kun…"

"Hmph, he needed it. And his whining is getting on my nerves." He glanced down, "Just shut up and watch Gokudera," cutting the storm guardian from arguing with his decisions.

"Uwaahh… I thought I was going to die…" Tsuna pulled himself up into a sitting position, rubbing his nose that felt as though the 10 ton hammer had hammered it in. Note to self: try not to fall in the face next time.

"Tsuna!" Yamamoto cried as he tried to make his way towards his friend.

"Eh? Wozzat? Some small fry of a friend of yours? Well, whatever! A new prey, and this one looks weaker! I'll get him first before I continue with you." A maniacal grin appeared. "Itadakimasu!"He made a mad dash towards Tsuna whom squeaked loudly and hid behind his arms. _'Eeeek! He's coming!'_

Suddenly, a flying rock flew at an amazing speed and hit Ken's head with a loud thud. Ken turned around and saw the taller teen grinning at him, tossing and catching another rock in his hand.

"Isn't your opponent me?" Yamamoto still had his signature smile on his face before it was replaced with narrowed eyes and a deep frown. "Come on," he lifted up the rock and got into his pitcher stance. "If I get you with this, it's a game set."

"Ah hah! A challenge huh?" Ken mocked, removing his wolf channel cartridge. "Sounds fun! If that's the case, I should show you my full power too." He inserted a new kind of fangs which had longer and sharper canines into his mouth. His eyes turned blood red and claws took over his nails. Black spots appeared all over his body and a fur-like looking coat covered his skin.

"Cheetah channel."

Joushima Ken sprinted off at lightning speed and charged towards Yamamoto.

Tsuna gulped, "He's fast!"

Taking an aim, Yamamoto threw the rock at breakneck speeds. However, the animal-human dodged it swiftly and pounced on the baseball player. He sunk his sharp teeth into his left forearm, feeling the skin tear and the muscle tissue rip apart. Blood flowed down his chin as he bit harder into the flesh.

"Yamamoto!" the brunette gasped in horror.

A smug chuckle was heard, "I've got you now!"

Before Ken could do realise that he had fallen into Yamamoto's trap, the sword handle came into contact with his head so quickly, causing him to lose consciousness. His jaw slackened as he fell onto the cold hard ground and Yamamoto pulled his arm free, clutching it in pain.

Above, the storm guardian felt a small tiny amount of respect for the raven haired teen. "That guy… He was prepared to sacrifice his arm in the very beginning."

Kagome commented Yamamoto's good job as she let of a sigh of relief.

A certain hitman had a sparkle in his coal black eyes while looking ahead.

Tsuna's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Ya-Yamamoto's arm… Just to save me…" he got onto his knees and bowed, "I'm sorry Yamamoto! All because of me! What about baseball? What about your tournament?"

"Oi! Oi! Give me a break, Tsuna. Didn't I say this before?" Yamamoto raised his head and smile good naturedly at him.

"Huh?"

"There's nothing more important than a friend, right?" he grinned.

"Yamamoto…" Tsuna looked at him gratefully with teary eyes.

"Besides, this injury is nothing at all. I can still play baseball so don't worry so much, Tsuna. Though it's bleeding more than I thought it would." He lifted up his left arm gingerly to show him the injury. True enough, the wound has not stopped bleeding and it was getting worse.

"Hey you guys! I found a rope!" Kagome announced as she held up the rope she had spotted somewhere near a branch. "Gokudera-kun will pull you up!" she yelled and threw one end of the rope down the hole.

After a few minutes of Gokudera complaining why he had to pull up the baseball nut as well and Tsuna spending more time than required to climb up a rope, both Tsuna and Yamamoto were finally out of the exhibit.

"Hey Takeshi-kun."

"What is it, Kagome?"

She fidgeted a little before asking him to show her his injury so that she could heal it. Earning a few curious looks from the other 3 teens, she rolled up the sleeve of his jacket and started wiping away the blood.

"You guys would have heard it from Reborn-kun that I'm a Miko, right?" she asked while cleaning up the bite.

"Yes, the kid had said something like that when we're at your house today." Yamamoto nodded, "But I have no idea what it was. Even Gokudera didn't know!" he laughed.

Gokudera spluttered a few incoherent swears in Italian before Tsuna stopped him from beating up the Rain Guardian.

"Well, Gokudera-kun was in Italy almost half his life so I doubt he'll know much about Japanese culture." Kagome paused a little and looked at Reborn who gave her a nod. "Basically, a Miko is a shrine maiden. I've been living in a shrine before I went to England and according to what my grandpa had said, I was a Miko and a powerful one."

A pink glow was emitted from her dainty hands and Yamamoto watched in wonder as he felt a warm sensation on his forearm and the ripped flesh was repairing itself. Tsuna could not believe his eyes when Yamamoto's injury was healed within minutes, looking exactly the same as it was without any scars. Yamamoto flexed his fingers and touched the new skin delicately, afraid that any slightest movement might tear the tissue again.

"It-It doesn't hurt at all!" He exclaimed.

Kagome giggled at his reaction and answered their unspoken questions. "Mikos used to be healers in the olden days. They were required to learn about herbs and spices to nurse the injured and the ill. Majority are able to sense spiritual auras, a couple of them are able to actually see the spirits and souls. Some of the more powerful ones are able to heal wounds and defend themselves using their spiritual powers or holy powers if I put it in layman terms. I had this power of healing people and perhaps animals for quite a long time. It was something that only I could do in my family although my grandpa was the shrine keeper." She patted the once injured forearm of Yamamoto before standing up and smoothing out the creases of her pants. "I was able to see things which normal people are unable to." She smiled gently as she disposed the blood stained cloth into the bin.

"Before I forget transfer-ee, you fired an arrow that glows in pink. What the hell was that?" Gokudera demanded.

"Ah, that… it's the purifying arrow. I infuse it with my purifying powers before firing it. The colour my powers are special. Every Miko have their own distinctive aura and the aura's colour. An old friend," Kagome shook her head, "more like allies and comrade, her aura was a pretty light blue. Back to what you were asking, the arrow is able to purify most evil. Hmmm… how to put it… It's like cleansing the person of evil I guess." She struggled to explain it without letting them know too much about her powers. Kagome did not want to answer too many questions because she had a tugging feeling in her chest, telling her that someone is there. Feeling unwise to disclose too much information about herself, the raven haired girl stopped talking and tied the unconscious male.

Reborn smirked, seeing the mixture of amusement and awe in the faces of the male teenagers. He did know that Kagome was a Miko and was a pretty powerful one. But he didn't know that she was able to heal wounds right there and then! She would be an important asset to the Vongola Family for the days to come.

* * *

><p><strong>Heh heh heh! I added Kagome's past inside. It's just a little glimpse of it. I'll begin explaining her past with Sesshoumaru in the future chapters. :) <strong>

**But phew! This is my longest chapter so far. I mean, the LONGEST one in all my fanfics. :P I do hope I can continue writing this story since I really like KHR and Inuyasha 3 Do REVIEW more often!  
>Oh, and by the way, I don't really have the habit of replying reviews even after reading them. So, I'm sorry if you guys are used to having your reviews being replied by the author. <strong>

**Thanks to all of you guys who had voted for Kagome's weapon! :D**

**Tessen: 4  
>Katana: 1<br>Soul Blade: 3  
>HandgunsSniper: 1  
>Gunblade: 2<strong>

**So, Tessen is in the lead with Soul Blade close behind. Since I'm pretty vague with my ideas, I'll explain the weapons in like lay man terms I guess. HAHA these weapons are just ideas popping up in my head. This might spoil the later chapter when Kagome's weapon of choice is revealed, but I wanna know how everyone would want her weapon to be. It might not only be the most voted one since I might want to include one other weapon :P**

**Tessen: If you guys watched Inuyasha and remembered there's this lady called Kagura who wields a fan, the Tessen will be similar to it. It would be made of iron or some strong metal because it is used as a close-combat weapon. And coincidentally, the art of practicing Tessen fighting was around the Feudal Era (if wiki is correct and my memory didn't fail me). So it makes one of the more possible weapon for Kagome to use since Sesshoumaru can teach her. :D**

**Katana: Well... I don't really have to explain this. :P I'll just take it that everyone knows this.**

**Soul Blade: This... is more or less an original idea unless people have used it before. As mentioned in Inuyasha, Kanna (the little white girl who works for Naraku) said that Kagome's arrow is made of souls when she was trying to steal Kagome's soul with her mirror. Soooo... This just sorta pop out of my head and I was like "Hey! Why not let Kagome have a sword which she can summon out anytime?" And viola! However, she will have to carry the hilt of the sword, where there's no blade since the blade would be made of her powers. Okay... I just realised that this is something like the light sabers from Star Wars... DANG! I didn't realise until I'm going post this chapter... Hell... :( Oh crap... And there's the Gundam series... Beam sabers.. Heck! If you guys don't mind this idea I'm happy to continue with this idea. Lol. Just let me go to my corner and grow my mushrooms. *sulks***

**Handguns/Sniper: I don't have to explain this too right? This originated from Kagome being an archer. So I'm taking it that her aim is good. (After fighting so many demons and practicing, she's bound to be much better than the beginning of the whole Inuyasha series.)**

**Gunblade: Hmmm.. This originated from Final Fantasy series. I was playing Dissidia 012 recently and Lightning was AWESOME! I mean, you got a gun that is shaped into a blade. Haha, I shall not rant on too much about Gunblades or this chapter will be about Gunblades and not the crossover. :p**

**So there you have it! The explanations of the weapons. You can re-vote if you like. But those who have yet to, please please tell me your thoughts! :D**

**Please review! XD**

**By the way people! I am promoted to Year 2 in my college! Yay! (Thank goodness I didn't get retained :x)**

**Thanks for reading! **

**Chiibiisuke~**


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the long long delay. Please don't kill me. I somehow sorta lost my passion for writing for quite a while and just got it back during my exam periods. OTZ**

**Anyways, I'll try my best to continue updating regularly. Junior College life isn't easy I swear. There's like tests every single week. TT^TT and the flu bug has been really prominent these few days. I'm down with a pretty bad cold as well. Singapore's weather is quite crazy... Cold and wet for a few days and blazing hot for the next.**

**As usual, thank you for reviewing, putting this story on alert and favouriting it! *Huggies* Please continue to drop comments and suggestions on how I can improve and ideas on how to make this story more interesting. (although I'm doing it in Canon KHR)**

**Enjoy!~**

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><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Kagome giggled at his reaction and answered their unspoken questions. "Mikos used to be healers in the olden days. They were required to learn about herbs and spices to nurse the injured and the ill. Majority are able to sense spiritual auras, a couple of them are able to actually see the spirits and souls. Some of the more powerful ones are able to heal wounds and defend themselves using their spiritual powers or holy powers if I put it in layman terms. I had this power of healing people and perhaps animals for quite a long time. It was something that only I could do in my family although my grandpa was the shrine keeper." She patted the once injured forearm of Yamamoto before standing up and smoothing out the creases of her pants. "I was able to see things which normal people are unable to." She smiled gently as she disposed the blood stained cloth into the bin._

_"Before I forget transfer-ee, you fired an arrow that glows in pink. What the hell was that?" Gokudera demanded._

_"Ah, that… it's the purifying arrow. I infuse it with my purifying powers before firing it. The colour my powers are special. Every Miko have their own distinctive aura and the aura's colour. An old friend," Kagome shook her head, "more like allies and comrade, her aura was a pretty light blue. Back to what you were asking, the arrow is able to purify most evil. Hmmm… how to put it… It's like cleansing the person of evil I guess." She struggled to explain it without letting them know too much about her powers. Kagome did not want to answer too many questions because she had a tugging feeling in her chest, telling her that someone is there. Feeling unwise to disclose too much information about herself, the raven haired girl stopped talking and tied the unconscious male._

_Reborn smirked, seeing the mixture of amusement and awe in the faces of the male teenagers. He did know that Kagome was a Miko and was a pretty powerful one. But he didn't know that she was able to heal wounds right there and then! She would be an important asset to the Vongola Family for the days to come._

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><p>"Are you alright, Yamamoto?" Tsuna asked worriedly. Despite his wound had been healed by Kagome, Tsunayoshi still felt guilty over the fact that his friend got injured because of his inability to protect himself.<p>

"Yeah, don't worry about it Tsuna. Kagome has already fixed my arm for me. And the best thing is that it feels as though I was never bitten by that Ken guy before!" Yamamoto raised his arm up and showed Tsuna his now scar-less arm. He turned to Reborn who was sitting on Kagome's shoulder, "I'm sorry kid. I broke your sword when I was fighting with him down there." He laughed apologetically and lifted up the hilt of the remaining sword. The metal of the katana looked like something had broken it cleanly, with jagged, uneven edges around.

"Don't worry about it. I've got another spare, take it." The infant hitman handed a brand new katana to Yamamoto.

"Oh? Thank you!" he smiled and placed it inside his baseball bat holder.

"W-w-whaaat? He even have spares?" Tsuna deadpanned. Man… he could never understand how Reborn manages to fish out things out of nowhere. Oh, maybe that's where Leon comes in handy! But Leon isn't in a good shape right now… So how did a baby the size of Reborn could hide a full katana? Tsuna shook his head and sighed. He could never understand his miniature tutor. Thinking about how he managed to accomplish certain impossible things and defied physics hurt his head as he thought on the possibilities.

"At this rate we are going, beating Mukuro would be nothing but a breeze, Tenth!" Gokudera said eagerly, a smug grin was apparent on his face.

"Don't underestimate Rokudo Mukuro." Reborn hopped down from Kagome's shoulder and threw a photograph to the duo sitting on the ground. "He's gotten through many tough situations by severely beating his enemies into a pulp. The prison break this time was the day before his execution."

Tsuna picked up the photograph and the other two males came closer to peek at the picture. There were three males holding on to black cards with their serial number on it. The tallest male stood between the other two Kokuyo Middle Schoolers they had fought against previously. Ken had stuck his tongue out, as though mocking at the people, while Chikusa looked like, well, Chikusa. The man in the middle had his shirt open, showing the numerous scars that decorated his torso and abdomen. His eyes were narrowed with killing intent and brows are deeply furrowed; his jet-black spikey hair gave his overall appearance an even more menacing look. Not to mention the two claw-like scars on the right side of his jaw, Rokudo Mukuro looked utterly terrifying. From the markings of the background, he had to be at least 5 feet 7 inch!

The brunette gave an involuntary shiver. "Rokudo Mukuro looks really scary!" he exclaimed.

Kagome gave a chuckle. She couldn't blame Tsuna for thinking Rokudo Mukuro was scary since he probably ignited fear among most people due to his looks. If it wasn't due to her time-travelling and becoming acquaintance with demons and ogres, she would be terrified. Not to forget she knew a certain Daiyoukai and was his student for quite a while back.

Glaring at the raven-haired girl, Gokudera fumed mentally. _'How dare she laugh at the Tenth? What's so great about her anyway? Acting so prim and proper, talking as though she was the Tenth superior? But, she did save the Tenth once when that glasses guy attacked us…' _ The more he thought, the more irritated he became. In the end, he gave up, ruffling his silver hair with his hands and sulked at Kagome even more.

"Eh? What's wrong Gokudera? Are you sulking because you're hungry?" Yamamoto hung his healed arm around the other male and laughed. Suddenly, a large growl sounded from Gokudera's stomach before he could open his mouth to deny it.

Gokudera's face flared up into a bright pink and denied furiously with a few swears and curses.

"Haha! Even his stomach agrees!" Yamamoto laughed, causing Kagome to chuckle lightly at the blushing Italian.

Tsuna looked around and spotted a small clearing, "Why not we take a break under that tree over there?" He suggested.

The group agreed and they started making their way towards there.

"Kagome-chan, you said you are a Miko before right?"

"Yes, what's wrong Tsuna?"

"Tell us some stories! Legends! Can you see into the future then since you said you are a pretty strong Miko? Read my future?" Yamamoto interrupted eagerly, eyes sparkling like a small child asking for candy.

Giggling at the baseball fanatic's enthusiasm, she replied. "Of course! Not really, Takeshi-kun. I get some visions from time to time but I'm not a seer, although I do know a little on palm reading."

"It's okay, tell us legends instead then." Yamamoto practically bounced on the balls of his heels.

"Has anyone heard of the Legend of the Shikon no Tama?"

Both Gokudera and Yamamoto looked confused and shook their heads. Tsuna however, looked surprised. "You mean the Jewel of Four Souls? The one that grants anyone their wishes as long as they obtained the jewel?" Tsuna asked.

"Yes, that's the one I'm going to tell you guys." Kagome continued, "How did you know of that legend Tsuna?"

"Oh, my mother used to tell me stories about it when I was younger. It was something about demons and humans fighting due to their greed, love, peace, honour and pride a long time ago."

"Ah, that is true." They had reached the small clearing and sat comfortably under the shade provided by a nearby tree. "So I shall begin then?"

Taking in a deep breath, she began to recite the story her grandpa used to tell.

"It was during the warring states of Japan, the Feudal era. There was no peace and conflicts were always sparked off between the samurais and lords. Demons plagued the land where human inhabits, killing them as and when they liked. In order to protect the people, there was a Miko in almost every village. At that time, there was a powerful priestess known as Midoriko. She was known for her strong and almost limitless spiritual powers and exterminate any demons that threatened her village. Humans worshipped the priestess as a deity while demons feared her powers. However, there were rumors that even the most recognized demons known as Daiyoukai, respected her strength despite their hate for the humankind. One day, she was ambushed and fought against hordes of demons in a cave. However powerful she was, the demons kept coming on again and again. Until the seventh night, her strength has waned and she knew she could survive. The demons exploited her weakness of fatigue and landed the finishing blow, straight into her armor-protected chest. Despite the protective covering, the demons managed to pierce through her heart. At the very last moment, Midoriko used up the last of her remaining powers to trap her soul and the demons in her and a small pink marble jewel fell out of her chest, ending the long battle as well as ridding the world of hundreds of demons. That pink marble, is the Shikon no Tama. The jewel of destruction was created even though Midoriko wanted to end the battle with the demons for peace."

All three teenage males looked a little green when they heard the creator was skewered through her heart. Kagome gave a weak smile as she sipped the green tea Yamamoto had prepared for this trip.

"And so, the jewel was passed on from generations to generations to a guardian priestess. She would have to keep the jewel pure and untainted. Any selfish or evil thoughts would cause the jewel to become tainted. Many sought the jewel in hopes for power, wealth, fame, love and many more. About five hundred and fifty years ago, the Shikon no Tama was then passed to this priestess, who met a inu hanyou-"

"Wait wait, what's a 'hanyou' transfer-ee?"

"A half-demon. My name is Ka-Go-Me, please remember it old man." She retorted, feeling a little miffed by his way of calling her. It's like he was desperately trying to exclude her or something, like she doesn't belong to them.

"Carry on, Kagome" Reborn prompted, ignoring the 'colourful' language that came out of the silver-haired teenager's mouth.

"The hanyou wanted the jewel like anyone else. He wanted power so that he can become a full-fledged demon. As halflings were often discriminated openly at that time, he had no wish to remain as one although he was already very strong. The hanyou attempted to steal the Shikon no Tama from the Miko but was hindered by her every time. After several encounters with each other, both of them started conversing and found out that they were similar. The Miko was seen as a pure being and people forbidded her from falling in love and live a normal life. The hanyou was seen as a bastard child of a renowned demon and a human princess, neither human nor demon. Both of them did not belong to either of the worlds. And thus, they creased attacking each other at the understanding that no matter how different they were, they were in fact the same.

"As time passes by, the Miko and the hanyou fell in love. However, the hanyou wasn't the only one who had his eyes on her. A severely injured bandit, whom the priestess was nursing secretly in a cave near her village, desired her and the jewel she was tasked with to protect. He craved for the tainted light of the Shikon no Tama and longed for the priestess he would never have because she was in love with the 'filthy hanyou'. The bandit then sold his soul to the demons for a healthy body to move about and he plotted on how to split the couple. After setting up the both of them into thinking that the other had betrayed them, the hanyou attacked the priestess's village to steal the jewel. The Miko who was fatally wounded by the bandit-turned-demon, returned to her village to seal the rampaging hanyou to a God Tree by pinning him on the tree with an expertly aimed arrow and she died shortly afterwards. Before she had passed, she ordered the villagers that the jewel was to be burnt with her body so that no one would be able to find it anymore."

Yamamoto and Tsuna were awed by the way she recites the story. It was as though she was living in the story. As for Gokudera, he was beyond awed. He almost worshipped Kagome after hearing her story on demons. He had never met another person who believed demons were real! Tsuna could practically see his tail wagging eagerly for the next part of the tale.

"So that priestess died?" Gokudera questioned eagerly.

"Yes, she died when she was 18. The hanyou she loved was sealed onto the God Tree, which was able to transcend time. So 50 years had passed and he had not age, he just slept peacefully with the arrow in his chest. It was until one day, a fifteen year old girl came across him and awoken him accidentally. According to the legend, that girl was the reincarnation of the priestess who had died 50 years ago. The younger sister of the dead priestess, now an elder in the village, even mistook the girl as her elder sister due to their uncanny similarities in not just their looks and personalities. However, the one thing that caused the elder to confirm her suspicions was the possession of the Shikon no Tama in the body of the girl. The reincarnation then freed the hanyou since she was being chased by a demon called Mistress Centipede. Then-"

"What? A Centipede demon?" Tsuna exclaimed. "It's not possible!"

"It's a legend, Tsuna. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. Continuing, the hanyou ripped the demon into chunks of flesh and demanded the young girl to hand over the Shikon no Tama that came out of her body when the demon bit her side. After the elder placed a subjugation necklace around the inu hanyou's neck, he was quickly subjugated by the first word the young girl could think of, 'Osuwari.' "

The three teens burst into fits of laughter, Tsuna nearly spit out the tea he was drinking. Even Reborn had to hide a bark of laughter with a slightly forced cough.

Kagome chuckled lightly, and helped herself to an Onigiri. Taking a bite to see the fillings, she cheered when it was her favourite pickled plums. "It was a few days later when the jewel was stolen from her by a raven demon and she was trying to save a young toddler from it. Despite she had never held a single bow or arrow in her life, her wits and quick thinking allowed her shot to hit the demon after several misses. She had attached the claws of the demon onto the arrow and since the claws would be attracted back to the main body. The arrow had pierced the demon, killing it instantly while causing the jewel to break into shards and fragments that was littered all over Japan."

"And so, the hanyou joined forces with the young reincarnation in order to reclaim the shards. On their journey, the two made friends, rivals, allies and enemies. It took them a total of 2 years to finally complete the broken Shikon no Tama with the help of their friends and companions. However, something tragic had happened. The young girl, whom turned into a wonderful archer and Miko, was killed whilst protecting her friends. The jewel that was in her possession, disappeared along with her when a blinding white light flashed upon her companions. And then, she was gone. It was as though she had not existed before. Not a single trace was left behind other than her blood stains and the memories of her comrades. No one had seen her ever since despite them retaining their memories of her."

"And so, this was the legend of the Shikon no Tama. The jewel was never seen or found again. Rumours were that the young Miko was Gaia, Goddess of the Earth called forth by the Skies to save the world, while others believed that the white flash of light was Heaven retrieving their lost child. Some even said that the jewel brought her to hell along with their archenemy where they fought for eons to pass, and the rest thought that the Miko was trapped within the jewel, along with the previous protectors of the cursed jewel. But most people perceived that she wished for the Shikon Jewel to disappear forever since the Jewel never appeared ever again. There are many more but these are some of the more well-liked versions of the ending for the legends. However, no one knew the absolute truth on what happened to the Miko since her companions did not utter a single word about her demise to outsiders. And so her legend was passed down from generations to generations, from fathers to sons and mothers to daughters." Kagome concluded solemnly.

She then heard Tsuna and Yamamoto clapping enthusiastically while Gokudera bombarded her with questions about the supernatural.

"Wait, so since you're a Miko, did you see ghosts or spirits before? What about aliens? Seen people's aura? Performed an exorcism on a possessed person before? How about curing a mysterious illness that no one could?" the silvered hair teen rattled away, ignoring the flustered reaction from the Miko.

"That's enough Gokudera. Let the poor girl breathe." Reborn interrupted.

"But-"

"Calm down Gokudera, you got plenty time to ask her all the questions you want." Yamamoto grinned, throwing his arm over the bomber. "Anyway Kagome, why did you return to Japan?" asked Yamamoto with genuine curiosity.

Kagome paused, she didn't expect him to ask her such a question! How should she answer him? She kept silent for quite a while, earning a few worried glances and a suspicious one from Gokudera. Heaving a sigh, she replied: "I used to live here; my house was beside the Higurashi Shrine on top of the hill where you can see a long flight of stairs. My younger brother, Souta and I had to live with my guardian in England after I lost my grandpa and parents in a car accident. They died in a freak accident, the drunken truck driver ran over their car flat. I-I was nine then... I came back to revisit the place where I grew up, and help my guardian to run some errands in Japan." Her eyes could burn a hole in the layers of dirt. She felt horrible since she hated keeping secrets from her friends. But she knew now wasn't the time for her to reveal everything yet, especially when her instincts had been going haywire ever since they stepped into the recreational park. Kagome knew that someone was there, listening and watching the group's every move.

Tsuna was stunned. He didn't expect someone as kind as her to be an orphan at such a young age. His heart throbbed painfully when she mentioned her parents' and grandfather's death with a sorrowful voice. It sounded as though she was blaming her for their deaths, like it was her fault they had died, like she was the cause of their deaths. He paused, he never felt this strongly on anything when Kyoko-chan was talking to him about herself. Is it because Kagome had not experienced any parent love for more than 5 years, causing his inner heartstrings to be tugged at? Or was it due to how he viewed Kagome as? No, it can't be! It wasn't even more than 5 days since they first met! It's not possible for him to fall in love with her in such a short time. _'Get a grip on yourself Sawada Tsunayoshi! The one you like is Sasagawa Kyoko, whom you had liked her ever since Middle School! Not Higurashi Kagome! How could you like someone when you don't even know anything much about her other than you causing her to be caught up in that Mafia thing? It's all my fault!' _

Seeing Kagome hesitating to answer him, Yamamoto Takeshi panicked. Did he just crossed the line? She didn't even look up to face them after she replied his questions! Is she crying? Why didn't she lift up her face? Questions flooded his mind when he saw her small shoulders trembling. Seeing Tsuna keeping mum it himself, he asked worriedly, "Ka-Kagome? Are you alright?" He reached out to pat her shoulders, but she flinched away.

"I'm fine Takeshi-kun. But something's coming…" she looked around the clearing, trying to spot any abnormal activity. She felt a shiver climbing up her spine, causing her shoulder to tremble. Glancing at the baseball player, she wondered why he had a guilty smile on his boyish features.

Suddenly, the bushes nearby rustled, startling the group and they tensed up immediately into their battle stance. Instead of a big mutated monster that appeared, a group small, fluffy yellow birds flew out into the clear blue skies. Heaving a sigh of relief, Kagome dropped her stance and thinking that it was a false alarm. However, the other two guardians of Tsuna didn't relax their stance, but they moved protectively in front of Tsuna and Kagome as the thumping of footsteps as well as a weird laughter that sounded like horses neighing were heard.

"Who's there?" Gokudera demanded.

"Calm down, I'm not here to harm you." A bespectacled middle age man with a top hat hobbled towards them with a walking cane. One of the small yellow birds flew down towards him and landed comfortably on his hat and another settled on his shoulder. Gokudera narrowed his eyes and glared at the man.

"Please look at this." The man clicked on a remote control and the wall close to them flickered and two windows are open on the screen.

Yamamoto let out a low whistle, "Cool technology! The wall became a monitor." He commented.

"Don't worry so much, I'm not going to hurt you. They are my next targets unless you follow my every demand." The windows were enlarged so that they could see who was targeted.

Tsuna gasped in horror. "Kyoko-chan! Haru!" Why are they on the screen? What's going on?

The girls walked on, not knowing that they had been spied on. Haru was humming to a random tune that was playing from her music player while studying and Kyoko was going to visit her brother in the hospital with Hana.

Gokudera immediately figured out what the mysterious man would want from them and shouted, "Who the hell are you bastard? What are you up to?"

The teenagers glared at the bird-like man cautiously, all tensed and ready to sprint.

"Now, now. Didn't I tell you all to calm down? I'll explain everything which will only take a few minutes." He brushed off Gokudera's insults offhandedly.

"My name is Birds. Like the word suggests, my hobby is keeping birds. The videos you are watching now are being transmitted to us by my cute little birds that have miniature cameras in them." The flapping of wings could be heard from the video and it was taken from a bird's eyes view. Several other small birds flew past the camera as well.

Kagome scoffed behind Yamamoto, "As well as stalking on young girls, you paedo-bird. Besides, what's with the Kokuyo uniform? Don't tell me you were _that_ stupid to be retained for more than 30 years?"

The man spluttered incoherently at her, clearly offended by her comment as she insulted his intelligence. Reborn's lips twitched upwards. That girl never failed to amaze him despite the years. _He _was right about her having a fiery spirit within.

Tsuna gulped as something flickered behind the two girls. "Eh? What's that? There's something behind the two of them." Haru reached a playground in her neighbourhood and sat down on the bench and continued her reading of the textbook. Meanwhile, both Kyoko and Hana sat down and waited for the bus to the hospital.

Two figures that wore the Kokuyo Middle School uniform with distorted faces appeared behind them. Their noses looked as though a knife had sliced it off, leaving only two slits of holes that resembled a snake's nose. The duo's lips were sewn shut by a metal wire while their eyes are black holes, as though their eyeballs were dug out of their skulls. The limbs were oddly elongated and their fingers abnormally long, twisting at impossible angles with ridiculously sharp fingernails.

"What the hell are those things?"

"Oh? So you noticed them. They are a pair of twin hitman loyal to me, known as Bloody Twins. Notice their cute faces? That's a result of being locked up for ten years in restraints that were never once removed because they are brutal serial killers. They were not let out of solitary confinement, not even once."

"What did you say!"

"Please watch carefully. They want to play with your friends so much that they can't help themselves." He sniggered gleefully and pointed to the screen.

The two hitman slowly close to the girls, razor sharp nails aimed at their jugular and waited for the command to kill their victims.

"Watch out!" Tsuna gasped. His friends, who had no connections with the Mafia, were going to be injured just because they are affiliated with him. Much to his dismay, the two teenage girls did not even realize that they might lose their lives any moment.

Kagome growled, "What do you intend to do with the girls?"

Birds rubbed his chin and thought for a while. "Nothing at all, as long as all of you follow my orders."

"Don't screw around you bastard!" Gokudera grabbed the collar of the man's shirt and drew back his fist for a punch in his face. "They have nothing to do with this! If you don't call off the hitmen, I'm going to tear you apart!" he threatened.

"Now, now. You'd best not touch me." He smirked and eyed the monitor. "I won't be responsible for what happens to your friends. If you don't release me, I can still give them commands to either let your friends live or let them die a painful slow death."

"What?"

"Your friends' lives are in my hands. None of you are in any position to protest or complain. It's best if you don't touch me again, fool."

Gokudera glared at him, his fists trembled and hesitated. "Shit! Damnitall!" he cursed and let go of the man and pushed him away roughly.

The pair of hitman lurked behind them, staying out of their sight.

"Eh—kekekekeke" Birds sniggered while readjusting his collar. "As long as you obey me, the two of them will be safe. Now, let us begin." He let out a few high pitch laughter that sent shivers up Tsuna's back.

"Let's see… well then, I want all of you to beat up Vongola Decimo."

"What?" everyone was shocked.

Tsuna's eyes widened greatly while Gokudera began demanding who he was to make such a command.

"Gokudera!" Yamamoto interrupted him before he could continue with his rant.

'_It's not possible for them to know that I am the Tenth boss of Vongola. I'm not even one yet to be precise.' _ Tsuna gulped in fear.

"In other words, I want you all to beat up Sawada-kun over there!" Birds pointed his cane towards Tsuna who squeaked in fright. _'How did they found out that I'm the heir?'_

"You want the two of them to return home safely, don't you? Then, please beat him until I see blood."

Tsuna watched Kyoko laugh sweetly at Hana and they continued chatting around, without a care in the world.

"That is totally one-sided!" Gokudera yelled.

"That's cheap you coward!" Kagome shouted in fury.

Tsuna glanced at the monitor and saw both his friends' innocent laughter. Kyoko was too busy talking with Kurukawa to notice the person behind her. And Haru was reading with her earphones on so she couldn't even hear or realise the hitman behind her! How did things become like this? He knew that his friends wouldn't even raise a hand on him despite being forced. That man was being absolutely unreasonable! His emotions were in turmoil. If his friends did beat him up, it does nothing to guarantee both Haru's and Kyoko-chan's safety! It would only prolong the time the girls would have left to live. He didn't even have any backup to protect them since Onii-san was hospitalised. _'I never imagined that this would happen. What-what should I do? Reborn just had to be sleeping at a time like this!'_ Tsuna whacked his head and panicked, trying to come to a conclusion.

"Kekeke, it's okay if you refuse. I won't lose or gain anything from killing those two. My other hobby, you see, is seeing people get frightened. I love the expressions on the faces of these defenceless, unknowing, and innocent people when they're shocked or surprised. It turns me on so much that I nose-bleed!" he face flushed excitedly as he thought of the ecstasy he would feel when he saw his victims' dumbfounded looks. "For example, what if one of the girls' hair suddenly caught on fire? Oh, I wonder what wonderful expression she would display." He laughed wickedly. Pointing to Haru, he laughed sadistically, "How about we start with this girl first? I'm sure her pretty hair would combust really well."

As soon as the words left his mouth, one of the twin hitman lighted a flame from a small lighter. "Come on, it's your moment of decision!"

"That's sick!" Yamamoto glared furiously.

"Perverted Old Man!" Gokudera swore.

"Oh well, it seems that you are not willing to comply, then just sit back and watch the girls' expressions when their precious hair get burnt along with their heads!"

Just before the flame could touch Haru's hair, Tsuna cried out desperately. "W-W-Wait! I-I'll do it! Yamamoto, Gokudera-kun, beat me up!" his voice wavered and he clenched his fists tightly and shut his eyes to wait for the blow.

"Tenth!"

"Tsuna!"

"Tch… Kill-joy. Fine, then please start within the next five seconds." Birds frowned disappointedly.

'_Why did I say it in the first place?' _he wanted to turn back time to 20 seconds ago to take back what he had said. But if he did so, Haru probably would have been badly burnt or critically injured. He had to do this!

"No… I mean… Yamamoto, Gokudera-kun… Please beat me up now?" he stuttered through trembling lips. Tsuna tensed and shut his eyes and gritted his teeth.

"That's reckless, Tsuna!" Yamamoto retorted harshly.

Gokudera agreed and shouted in defiance. "I can't do something like that to the Tenth!"

"But if you guys don't do it, Kyoko-chan and Haru would be hurt!" he pleaded urgently.

"But Tsuna, you know we won't hurt you. We promised you before."

"That's right Tenth!"

"I don't care! Jus-"

SLAP!

Tsuna's head snapped to his right and a red handprint marked his left cheek. Chestnut brown eyes started tearing up at the stinging pain that started to numb slightly. Looking up at the person who slapped him, he was stunned to see his new classmate and friend, Kagome, cradling her hand to her chest and her ocean blue eyes that reflected anger. Dumbfounded, Gokudera and Yamamoto never did anything to stop her from hitting Tsuna as neither of them saw Kagome moved and slapped him.

The raven haired girl narrowed her eyes on him. "Tsuna, I know that you want your friends to be safe. But please think about how Takeshi-kun and Gokudera would be feeling when you demand them to beat you up. Even though your desire to prevent your friends from getting hurt is huge, you have to consider your own safety as well!" Her face soften and she reached out to stroked his red cheek softly, "I hope I didn't hit you too hard. But, I'm not going to apologize for hitting you since you had it coming."

Tsuna's face was flushed from shame and embarrassment. Indeed, he did not think about how Yamamoto and Gokudera-kun would feel at all. He was too caught up in thinking of ways how to protect his two other female friends and neglected his best friends. _'What kind of friend am I anyway...' _he hung his head low and muttered, "I'm so sorry guys… for not caring how you would feel."

"Tenth…" Gokudera originally wanted to chew Kagome's head off for slapping Tsuna. However, he knew that what Kagome said was true. He felt the slight sting of jealously when he saw Tsuna panicking over the girls' safety and demanded that they beat him up regardless of their opinions.

Yamamoto was speechless, but he cheerfully patted Tsuna's back nonetheless. "Maa Tsuna, the girls are alright. That's all that matters."

A shrill laughter came from Bird's direction. " Ohoho. Nice job, stage 1 clear! Now, if you can clear the next request, the two girls will go free."

"EHH! There's another one?" exclaimed Tsuna.

"Who said that would the end? But, since you've cleared that one so nicely, I'll be kind and make the next one the last and final one."

"You bastard! Don't push your luck too much!" The silver hair teen swore.

The man then stabbed his crane into the ground, shattering the wooden casing that held a wicked looking sword. "Next then, you will stab Sawada-kun with this sword."

Dumbfounded, the group was rooted to the ground with a furious "WHAT?" from Gokudera.

"That's going too far!"

"Quit fucking around you bastard!"

"Ekekekekeke! All your shocked faces just then were absolutely great! Oh dear, my nose is bleeding…" he sniffed and pressed his hanky onto it to halt the blood flow. "So then, decided quickly. Will you do it or will you not?"

"NO FUCKING WAY!" Gokudera yelled.

"Don't ask for the impossible!"

Kagome let out a tired sigh, causing everyone to turn towards her direction.

"What's wrong Kagome-chan?"

"Look here Mister Pervy-bird, if you are so keen on killing Tsuna-kun, why don't you just kill him yourself and save all of us the trouble and time? Did you even use your mind to think that you can just order that two servants of yours to assassinate him? He's an easy target since he hadn't received any proper training from his tutor. You know that don't you?" The raven haired girl said nonchalantly.

"Wha-"

"Oh, spare me from the denial. You know that you can kill him off easily. So answer my question before we continue on your sick tasks." Her ocean blue eyes narrowed.

"Kekekekeke! I'm surprised that a wench like you managed to figure it out. None of the guys even thought that it was weird." Fits of laughter shook the hunched body of Bird.

Before the middle aged man could continue mocking them, an icy cold glare from Kagome froze him from laughing.

A weak laughter escaped his lips, "What if I refuse to tell?" Birds threatened. "I can just tell them to slit their throat as easily as snapping my fingers." He pointed towards the screen where the camera was zoomed in on Sasagawa Kyoko.

"W-w-wait! What are you going to do?" Tsuna exclaimed.

"What else? Making a cut at one of her major artery and windpipe… Oh my… I'm really looking forward to this. The girls will be in great pain and shock. The best thing is that they have to suffer a long time before they die. They can feel their lives slowly fading away as their blood drains from their body."

Yamamoto gulped, "This guy…!"

Gokudera stood his ground beside the baseball star and started cursing the middle aged man from heaven to hell and back.

Birds then snapped his fingers and commanded the assassins to kill. The serial killer behind Kyoko extended his sharp nails and poised to slash any moment.

Tsuna watched in horror while the fingernails of the killer twins' were dangerously close to the windpipe of the two unaware girls.

Just before the twin behind Kyoko could touch her, Tsuna cried out desperately. "Noo! Stop! Stab me! With the sword or whatever, just stab me!"

The killing blow halted immediately.

"Tsuna!"

"Tenth!"

Looks of disbelief was apparent on Gokudera and Yamamoto's faces.

"I-I can't let Kyoko-chan face any sort of cruelty! Haru too! They have nothing to do with this at all!" Tsuna cried.

"All right, then. Let's do it shall we? Your time limit this time is 10 seconds.

He walked slowly towards the sword with jagged edges, stumbling over a few rocks. Grabbing the hilt of the sword, he pulled out the sword and held it uncertainly with both hands.

"Tsuna-kun… Don't be rash." Kagome warned. _'Please… Please let them reach on time!' _

"Yeah Tenth! Don't do it!" Gokudera pleaded with his puppy dog eyes.

The baseball player nodded his agreement and added, "Kagome's right, Tsuna."

"B-b-b-but…" stuttered the burnet. The hands that held the sword trembled vigorously.

"Come on, come on! You wouldn't want both their pretty heads to fall off their necks don't you?" Birds hyperventilated as a small tickle of blood flowed down from his nose.

"I-I-I'll do it m-myself." Tsuna stuttered incoherently. _'I can't make both Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto to do it… They covered and protected me, regardless of themselves. At least this is the least I could do…_'

"H-H-Here g-g-goes!" the brunet lifted the sword swiftly. The two other male teenagers watched their friend as he brought down the sword on his thigh in silent horror.

A shrill scream snapped everyone out of their trance of anticipation and terror. The screech caused massive feedback and the group massaged their ears to check for any injuries.

"What happened GiGi?" Birds demanded as he saw both of his slaves thrown a good distance away from the girls.

"Tch! Freaks like you are so obviously into the Lolita complex." A tall silhouette towered over the twin who was with Kyoko. The screen shook a little as the tiny yellow bird took flight to a higher place. A man dressed in a red shirt with khaki pants. The dark haired man snorted arrogantly while glaring down and the twin who layed limply on the ground.

Another man with long jet-black hair that rivalled the darkest night held back in a high pony tail helped Haru up from her seat and glared at the fallen assassin. "It's a good thing that we made it on time, mutt." He spoke into his Bluetooth set that was clipped onto his ears. "Are you alright, m'lady?" The man surveyed Haru for any injuries and wounds before giving Kagome the signal that she's fine.

"Keh! Kagome owes me loads for this!" Inuyasha complained while rolling his eyes.

Both Kyoko and Hana turned around and the ruckus, shocked when they saw the not-so-kind man towered over them protectively.

"W-who are you?" Kyoko asked timidly.

Molten gold eyes met her own. "Someone that you wouldn't want to cross with." The man patted her softly on her back before shooing her and Hana away.

"Girls, I advice you to leave now."

"But-"

"It might turn a little too nasty for your eyes and age. Just go and not turn back."

After a hesitant glance at the man, Kyoko was dragged away by an anxious Hana, whose instinct was screaming at her to get away as soon as possible.

"Well, well… You owe me loads for this Kagome!" The dark-haired man called out; as though he already knew that the camera that was filming his every movement contained a small microphone.

"Oh shuddup mutt-face! Stop talking to my woman like that!" Koga growled, pushing Haru behind him and he faced the killer.

"Tch! Back at you, whimpy wolf!" Inuyasha retorted into his mouthpiece.

Back at Kokuyo Land, Kagome sighed. Taking out her phone and Bluetooth earpiece, she muttered. "Alright alright, Inuyasha. I heard you already the first time around. And can't you two just stop fighting for once?" she shook her head at the way both men were behaving.

"By the way Kagome, I'm on the way to where you are now. Along with your things that you had left behind at Sesshoumaru's place." A new voice cut the verbal sparring the rivals were having.

Her face immediately brightened up at the new voice and her eyes shone with recognition of the voice. "Shippo! That's gre-"

Out of the blue, Tsuna suddenly fell onto the ground, clutching his right thigh in a fetal position. Perspiration dripped down his brown locks and his lips were white and trembling.

Cries of 'Tenth' and 'Tsuna' were heard. Kagome's head snapped towards the fallen burnet and rushed towards him.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Inuyasha, Shippo, Koga-kun." She said before ending the call with a press of a button.

"Of course." Inuyasha nodded.

"Anything for my woman!" Koga declared openly, receiving a loud growl from the other man.

"Roger!" Shippo picked up his pace and made a dash towards Kagome's scent.

* * *

><p><strong>There you have it! I had some troubles on where to end this chapter. :x I'm sorry that this chapter didn't really have any action behind it and it's mostly dialogue. Don't murder me! *Hides*<strong>

**I tried my best with the grammar and spelling. If there's any, please let me know! I might have overlooked any mistakes as I edited this myself. Frankly speaking, my English ain't all that awesome. I just try my best. :)**

**Review please? *Zack's puppy dog eyes***

**Have anyone heard of a Nico Nico Douga singer called Valshe? Do try and listen to the songs she sings! Yes, Valshe is a GIRL! But I bet you'll be surprised by her. :D**

**Chiibiisuke~**


	9. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:  
><strong>

**Hey! I'm back! (^0^) Had been too busy with school and studying for major exams that will take place at the end of this month. **

**I'll just keep the front AN short and continue more at the back! Tried my best with editing and all. I had to like rewrite this story almost twice!**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

><p><em>Previously:<em>

_Back at Kokuyo Land, Kagome sighed. Taking out her phone and Bluetooth earpiece, she muttered. "Alright alright, Inuyasha. I heard you already the first time around. And can't you two just stop fighting for once?" she shook her head at the way both men were behaving._

_"By the way Kagome, I'm on the way to where you are now. Along with your things that you had left behind at Sesshoumaru's place." A new voice cut the verbal sparring the rivals were having._

_Her face immediately brightened up at the new voice and her eyes shone with recognition of the voice. "Shippo! That's gre-"_

_Out of the blue, Tsuna suddenly fell onto the ground, clutching his right thigh in a fetal position. Perspiration dripped down his brown locks and his lips were white and trembling._

_Cries of 'Tenth' and 'Tsuna' were heard. Kagome's head snapped towards the fallen burnet and rushed towards him._

_"I'll leave the rest to you, Inuyasha, Shippo, Koga-kun." She said before ending the call with a press of a button._

_"Of course." Inuyasha nodded._

_"Anything for my woman!" Koga declared openly, receiving a loud growl from the other man._

_"Roger!" Shippo picked up his pace and made a dash towards Kagome's scent._

* * *

><p>Inuyasha peered down and the pathetic thing that was called an assassin. "Feh! They must be nuts or gone bonkers. Sending an assassin with half-assed skills, though I do give them points for their stalking."<p>

The killer tried to push himself off the ground and attacked Inuyasha in a feeble attempt. Inuyasha easily sidestepped the charging attacker and knocked him onto the ground once again.

"Hey."

"_What is it?"_

"Do you think it's okay for me to kill 'im Shippo?"

A curt "I don't know" was his reply.

"Oh well, the government can just take it that I'm doing a free-of-charge service to clean off criminals then." He smirked and pulled out a battered looking sword from a worn-out looking scabbard.

"_Wait! Are you friggin' out of you mind Inuyasha? Kagome will remove the thing that defines you as a man if she finds out that you killed a human!"_ Shippo yelled, causing the static to buzz in Inuyasha's ear.

"Damn it brat! You don't have to yell!" Inuyasha cussed, rubbing his ears gingerly. "Alright, alright… I'll beat 'im black and blue. Don't dare you stop me." He sheathed the Tessuaiga and placed it gingerly on the ground.

Shippo sighed, "Knowing you, you'll probably beat him to the blink of death. Well, better than killing him any other day. I'm reaching Kagome soon. See you soon!" the rustling of leaves and the soft thudding of footsteps replaced his boyish voice.

Smirking at the 'failure of an assassin', Inuyasha cracked his knuckles noisy and closed the distance between them. He chuckled evilly as he watched the human in front of him trembling in fear, which his distorted face paled from horror upon what Inuyasha would do to him.

* * *

><p>Cries of pain and sounds of bones breaking made Koga shiver in anticipation. He would not be outdone by a mutt-face! Purposely cracking his knuckles louder and closer to his communication device, he smirked when he heard a growl from the hanyou. Yes! He was fired up! His prey tried to escape stealthy while Koga was working out the kinks in his joints but failed miserably as Koga dragged him back by his collar.<p>

"Tut tut, you should know better than running away from oresama! (The great me!)" He delivered punch right in the middle of the criminal's face, breaking his nose beyond any healing. Blood spurted and flowed profusely down the twin's jaw.

"I'll show you the difference between hunting and being hunted. Prepare yourself!"

* * *

><p>"Sheesh, those two are having too much fun with this…" Shippo muttered as he listened to both males beating up the assassins, trying to outdo each other in terms of damage dealt. He sprinted through the gates of Kokuyo Land and dashed in the direction where Kagome's scent was the strongest.<p>

It has been quite a while since the last time he had met his motherly figure and he's looking forward to seeing her again despite the current situation. He originally intended to meet her the following week to pass her something that Sesshoumaru had been repairing for Kagome but the Daiyoukai had finished the restoring of her favourite weapon.

Suddenly the air smelt of fear, pain and anxiety, causing his youkai instincts to go into overdrive. Then the scent of blood slammed onto him, making him panic thinking that Kagome had been injured.

"Kagome!" He called out.

The group of people whipped their heads around at the sound of Shippo's voice.

"Shippo-chan!"

"I smelt blood! Are you okay? Are you injured?" The older teen patted her arms and body, trying to feel any injuries from her.

"Shippo-chan, I'm alright. Tsuna's the one injured. I have to help him." Her sapphire blue eyes gazed into his emerald green ones.

"No problem. I'll keep him busy. Go to him, quickly!"

* * *

><p>Kagome nodded and rushed over to the two other teenagers who surrounded their fallen friend.<p>

"Guys, move away from Tsuna-kun. Let me check what's wrong with him."

The two teens quickly made space for Kagome as she knelt down beside Tsuna and surveyed for any external injuries. She knelt down and placed her small hand on his sweaty forehead. _'Damn! His temperature is dropping fast. Slow pulse. Breathing rate decreasing. Full body shivers. Pupils are dilated and enlarged. Sign of poisoning caused by tetrodotoxin(1). How did that even enter his body?' _Her dainty hands worked expertly over Tsuna, checking him for any external wounds while comforting with a gentle voice, telling him that everything would be alright.

"What's wrong with Tenth?" Gokudera demanded.

"Poisoned. The sword was smeared with tetrodotoxin, a type of poison. Your blood will feel as though it was on fire, spreading around your body, rendering it numbed and paralysed and unable to do anything except from dying within four to six hours. I guess when Tsuna dropped the sword in surprise when the twins were thrown back, it must've grazed his thigh, causing the toxin to enter his bloodstream. I just hope I'm not too late to do this… his lips are already turning white. The poison must've spread quite a bit already by now. Gokudera, hold him down!" Kagome then ripped open the tear on his pants, and placed her lips on his wound without hesitation for a single second. The moment her lips were placed on the swollen purple cut, Tsuna trashed about, blinded from pain. His fists lashed out at Kagome, who took the blows silently as she continued cleansing the toxins away.

"I-It hurts! Stop! S-Stop please!" the brunet cried and pleaded as he clutched onto Gokudera's forearm tightly, causing him to wince a little from the lack of blood to his hands and Tsuna's nails making small crescents on his arms. His face was contorted in agony every time Kagome sucked the wound to cleanse it of toxins.

"Tenth! It's alright! It'll only hurt for a moment! Bare with it!" Gokudera held Tsuna's wrists to stop him from hitting Kagome, preventing her from cleansing the toxins in his body.

Yamamoto gaped as he watched the raven-haired girl sucking and spitting out the poisoned blood inside Tsuna in a frantic manner. Seeing her having some troubles with the trashing Tsuna, he grabbed onto the legs and held them in place, preventing them from smashing into Kagome's skull.

Giving a grateful nod to Yamamoto, Kagome continued several cycles of sucking and spitting out the contaminated blood. After making sure that a minimal amount of poison was left within his body, Kagome placed her hands on the wound. Warm pink energy flowed into the wound, purifying any leftover poison left in his body and sealing the cut.

Tsuna's breathing regained a more stable rate and colour began returning to his face. His grip on Gokudera's forearm slackened, as he grew limp in the holds of his friends.

The silver hair teen looked at Kagome anxiously, fearing that the worst had came and his Tenth could not withstand it.

"Don't worry, I removed out most of the contaminated blood and purified the remaining toxins within him." Kagome brushed the damp brown bangs away and felt his temperature. "He should be fine now but let him rest. Tsuna must be exhausted from fighting against the poison." She slumped onto the ground ungracefully, drained from the healing. Kagome had feared that she might not had done it correctly since she did not have many experiences in healing wounds that were contaminated with poison. The only other person she always healed was Miroku, but he did not receive any external wounds- unless the Kazana was one -and all he needed was an antidote tablet or two after any major battles with Naraku. She examined the newly healed cut and made sure it was recovered properly. Sighing wearily, she massaged the places where Tsuna's hands had made contact. He had really hit her hard even though she knew it was unintentional.

A hand rested on Kagome's shoulders, causing her to turn quickly, twisting the hand that was touching her by reflex drilled into her by Sesshoumaru.

"Owww! Kags, it's just me." Winced Shippo, lifting his other free hand to show he was no threat to her.

Immediately releasing her hold on his wrist, Kagome apologized frantically for hurting him. Shippo just grinned at her and rotated his wrist gently. Despite her being a human, her strength was still pretty impressive for her relatively small size, which was almost a head shorter than his 176 cm.

He peered over his shoulder and shrugged at Kagome when she asked him for Birds. "I swear I held back. I didn't even use 5% of my strength, and he just dropped like a dead fly when I slugged 'im across his face."

She stared at the unconscious man who was already foaming in his mouth. Raising an eyebrow, she looked at Shippo suspiciously, only to receive an innocent smirk from him. Kagome sighed and said, "May I have the things you brought?"

"Ah! Here you go." Shippo dug around in his pockets and took out two slim wooden cases. "Sesshoumaru said that he had reinforced it with Iridium, so it'll be a little heavier this time. He also stated that he had included several 'surprises' within as you'd wanted before which I have no idea." He handed them over, placing it carefully on her palms.

Kagome gave a little gasp of surprise when she opened the box and held her weapon. It was indeed heavier than last time but not THAT heavy! At least now she knew that her weapon could withstand most attacks now. She had to thank the Daiyoukai the next time she sees him. Iridium wasn't a metal that was easy to come by. Kagome knew that it was one of the rarest metals in the world and Sesshoumaru must had burnt quite a hole in one of his many bank accounts.

Flicking it open, she beamed as she saw the familiar patterns and designs on the fan. Kagome had received these after 3 years of painful training under the Daiyoukai as a form of graduation gift during her time in England. Inuyasha was absolutely livid when he found out that his brother had presented her with a weapon as a gift before him and without his knowledge. The hanyou wanted to return her bow, the one she had left behind in the Feudal Era, to her. He had preserved it and kept it in perfect condition, believing that they would meet each other again, in the future. He also wanted to give her his blood red haori, the robe of the fire-rat, but Kagome insisted that he kept it, as his inherited gift from his father.

She stroked the outer rib of the fan. In contrast with the typical Feudal period tessens, which were simple and plain, hers was elaborated with complex cravings and intricate designs that depicts her status as the Guardian of the Shikon no Tama. The inner ribs of the tessen were made of iron instead of bamboo and a blue crescent was painted in the middle of her fan. A long crimson silk sash was tied on the ends of each tessen. As Shippo had mentioned, the outer rib was plated with Iridium, and had a layer of lacquer to protect its slivery white colour.

Yamamoto was shocked that the tessen Kagome was holding onto was her 'secret weapon'. He knew that the art of tessen wielding, tessenjutsu, was almost only practiced by a handful of experts in Japan. How was Kagome able to learn such an art?

Both he and Gokudera stared, dumbfounded, as they watched the girl jumped into the embrace of the tall handsome red head beside her.

Kagome smiled and gave the red headed teen a tight hug, causing him to chuckle as he hugged her back.

"I missed you Shippo." Kagome pressed her face into his chest. He always smelled like the green meadows she used to bring him along to pick flowers, like the rivers, like nature, like spring. Although she had seen Shippo a few months ago in England, she had missed him dearly.

"I missed you too," he nuzzled Kagome's cheek fondly and whispered into her ear, so quietly that no one else other than the two of them could hear. "Mama."

Yamamoto cleared his throat uneasily, "Kagome, who's that?"

The two broke away from their embrace and Kagome looked at the two other teens with a sheepish grin on her face. "Sorry guys, got carried away. This is Shippo. I've known him for ages, an old friend of mine."

"Pleasure to meet you, Kagome's friends."

"Hahahaha! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi. Nice to meet you." He extended out his hand for a shake.

"What the heck baseball nut? How could you trust that weirdo so easily?" Gokudera demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the young man.

The baseball player simply patted his back and said, "Well, he saved us and defeated that old man! Doesn't that make him our ally? Besides, he doesn't look like he would kill us." He added and laughed good-naturedly, earning a scowl from the other.

"Oh boy, he's Gokudera Hayato. I'm sorry about his behavior." Yamamoto beamed, "he's usually shy so he's like that."

"Oi!"

"And that guy there is Sawada Tsunayoshi, but we all call 'im Tsuna."

Gokudera fumed, "Who told you that you can address the Tenth so casually?"

A shrill laughter resounded in the field, causing the group to end their pleasantries and turned towards the direction of the sound.

"Finally that old geezer has kicked the bucket!" A girl walked out from the bushes, giggling. She was wearing the same Kokuyo Middle School uniform as the previous few students but a skirt replaced the long pants. The girl had blood red hair in a bob-cut and she held an acoustic black clarinet in her hands.

"That's Kokuyo's uniform!" Yamamoto exclaimed.

The girl 'hmph' and replied, "If it weren't for Mukuro-chan's orders, I would never want to dress up like this! But you guys are pretty shabby-looking, even for the mafia. Are you sure that that wimp on the ground is indeed the heir to Vongola? I thought he would be more handsome and richer looking…"

"Wha-?" Gokudera spluttered.

"Ahh~ No brain and inattentive I see… how sad." She wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "In the end, only Mukuro-chan suits me the best." She haughtily flipped her fiery red hair out of her face.

The two teenage boys stood protectively in front of their exhausted friend who was lying on the ground. Gokudera whipped out his dynamites and Yamamoto unsheathed his sword. Both of them took a defensive stance while the mysterious girl approached them. Shippo immediately pushed Kagome behind him and stared at the girl with narrowed slit eyes.

Peering over her shoulder at Bird, she scoffed "Who was the one how disposed of him? I have to thank that person personally. I can't believe Mukuro-chan actually asked him to join him. He always gives me the creeps, disgusting jerk." She looked closer at the fallen man and whined, "Why is he still alive? He's much better of dead. What use is he to Mukuro-chan anyway?" She kicked him harshly in the stomach, causing the unconscious man to groan painfully.

"Oi! What are you doing to him? Isn't he your comrade?" Gokudera demanded.

"Him?" She snorted, conceited. "I will never ally myself with a pervert. My only ally is Mukuro-chan."

"What do you want? And who are you?" Yamamoto questioned cautiously.

"Oh dear, where's my manners." She smirked, placing her hand on her hips. "My name is M.M., pleasure meeting you even though you guys will be defeated by me!" The red head tightened her grip on her clarinet and lifted up the instrument.

Gokudera tossed a handful of dynamites in her direction to find out that the explosives blew up before its due time. Surprised, the bomber realized that the girl had blown her clarinet the moment the dynamites left his hands.

The gears of his mind started ticking away, trying to discover the reason. He grabbed a bottle of green tea that Yamamoto brought and flung it with all his might to the enemy. M.M. then lifted up her clarinet and blew. A high-pitched sound reverberated in their surroundings, and out of the blue the green tea exploded, sending hot steaming liquid everywhere.

"Is that musical instrument a weapon?" Yamamoto asked.

"I believe it is. But what sort of attack is this?" Kagome protected the unconscious Tsuna from the hot liquid with Shippo standing protectively in front of them.

"We can't get closer like this!"

"Be careful everyone, that clarinet she has is dangerous." The silver hair teen warned. His theory was right after all. "That weapon is constructed like a micro-wave oven, isn't it? When a substance is exposed to radiation, it is subjected to the high frequencies of electromagnetic waves."

"So what if you know all that?" M.M. scoffed.

"The high frequency of the note caused the water molecules within the liquid to vibrate even faster, resulting in higher intermolecular energy. If the atoms are vibrating vigorously, the friction will cause the substance's temperature to rise and it will reach its boiling point. Thus, the temperature and pressure within the bottle of green tea increased significantly. Therefore the bottle exploded, as it can't contain the high pressure within itself any more. This is the same as my dynamite earlier. The particles within shook so strongly, causing a spark to occur inside the gunpowder, whereby the spark will ignite the gunpowder and cause it to explode prematurely. Am I right about this, girly?" Gokudera grinned, feeling proud for being able to comprehend the enemy's weapon.

M.M. let out a whistle. "I compliment you for understanding the concept of my weapon. Since you know about that, then you should know what would happen if humans were to bask in this sound wave. They would also boil with a BOOM!" She cackled.

"And knowing all that, it would not do you any good, since you are going to die!" And with that, she took a deep breath and prepared herself to blow a high note.

Without warning, a gunshot resounded in the air. The fired bullet was shot past her head dangerously, just barely missing her face by a few hair widths. The girl let out a shriek of surprise before scowling at her attacker. Both Gokudera and Yamamoto glanced at Kagome who was holding her handguns with a fierce expression on her face.

"Kagome-"

"Let me do this, Shippo-chan." Her sapphire blue eyes turned icy cold as she frowned at the other girl. "I want to test the improvements made." She passed him the bow and quiver of arrows to him and gave him a grim smile. Her tessens were already hidden from view as she handed Shippo the empty cases.

Shippo knew what she was thinking. Kagome hated people who harmed their own friends and allies. Shaking his head, the fox demon sighed. The red headed girl would be in, pardon his language, such deep shit.

"How dare you!" M.M. screeched, pointing a condemning finger at Kagome. "How dare you shoot at me!"

"That was just a warning shot." She smirked, "Besides, I'd daresay I had never missed a single time in this life."

Kagome just brushed off her screaming with a simple shrug, further provoking the girl.

"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to microwave your brain matter up!" M.M. yelled, "Burning vibrato!" she blew on her clarinet.

* * *

><p>"Ugh… What's happening?" Tsuna whined. His entire body was aching as though he had just went through a thorough training with his Spartan tutor.<p>

"Tenth! Are you okay?" Gokudera shook the brunette anxiously. He was afraid that his boss would not wake despite the transfer-ee had cured him. The silver hair teen then pressed his forehead onto his to check his temperature. _'It feels normal… Thank god…'_

"G-G-Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna stuttered, startled by the sudden movement of his friend. He froze when Gokudera's forehead touched his. "G-G-G-Goku-dera-kun, w-w-what's wrong?"

Gokudera pulled back and sat on his ankles, facing his boss. "You got poisoned, Tenth. That old pervert smeared poison over the blade that you were supposed to stab yourself with." Gokudera inclined his head to the direction of the defeated man who was foaming from his mouth.

"You sorta dropped the blade when the two of Kagome friends appeared and helped the girls." Yamamoto interrupted cheerfully, ignoring the glare from Gokudera. He was so glad that his friend was all right. "The blade just kinda made a cut on your leg, over here, when you dropped it." He pointed to Tsuna's ripped pants on his right thigh. Droplets of dried blood remained on the material despite the wound wasn't there.

"How- Who saved me?"

Gokudera's eyes widened, "You don't remember anything, Tenth?"

"Not really… all I remember was that everything was white. I heard voices calling out to me but I can't reply. Then, my body felt as though it was on fire… and pain…" Tsuna shivered slightly.

"Kagome saved you, Tsuna. She cleansed out the poison from your wound like a pro! Checking and making sure that the symptoms are really due to you being poisoned." Said Yamamoto.

Reborn jumped onto Yamamoto's shoulder. "You were trashing about and you even hit Kagome so many times when she was working over you. I'll deal with you for that."

"Ahaha! Kid, you're awake from your nap! How was it?"

"Could be better, but thanks for asking." Reborn replied.

"Where's Kagome?" Tsuna asked, looking around.

To his surprise, another unfamiliar voice said. "She's fighting that other girl that turned up after I'm done with the old geezer." The young man jerked his thumb over his shoulder towards Kagome who was exchanging blows with the red haired girl.

"Kagome knows how to fight?" Tsuna questioned Shippo.

The fox demon resisted the urge to smack his palm onto his face. Yes, he knew that the kid was dense. Yes, knew that the kid's was bad academically and physically. But no! He didn't expect him to be _THAT_ dense! Any normal person in mafia would have assumed that anyone would knew how to hold a guy would have some basic knowledge on fighting. He sighed mentally. How nice it is for Sesshoumaru to assign this mission for Kagome. Shippo then schooled his expressions properly before answering the brunette.

"Yes, she knows. And I daresay she's pretty good too."

"But-"

"Just watch her, Sawada-san."

Tsuna nodded and then turned his gaze to watch the Kagome fight against the Kokuyo girl as though she was dancing.

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><p>A pink shield erupted around Kagome like molten lava, fully protecting her from the sound waves. M.M. clicked her tongue in disgust and charged towards the other girl, using her instrument as a nun chunk.<p>

The raven-haired girl parried the assaults with her guns and blocked every single blow that was aimed at her vital points. Left, right, dodge, shoot, strike bottom right, block, fire middle, dodge above and the cycle continues. Kagome was always in constant motion, moving gracefully and elegantly, waltzing around M.M.'s strikes.

"Stop- 'strike' -trying- 'dodge' …to- 'block' -dodge and fight back!" M.M. cursed. They exchanged another blow that was blocked by each other before retreating to a safe distance away.

"Unless you're afraid of me since I'm going to end your life very soon." The red head taunted and panted lightly.

Kagome scoffed. "I had one too many death threats before till it's no longer efficient on me. Besides, I'm not afraid. I'm just thinking of your worth on making me take out my new weapon and testing it on you."

"Why you bitch! After I'm done with you, I'll make sure I boil your friends slowly so they can feel their blood literally boiling, and kill them slowly and surely."

Kagome's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "You're asking for it." She twirled her guns in her hands before slipping them into the holsters. Reaching down to her boots, she pulled out the two new tessens.

Kagome opened the war fans and took her battle stance, whereby her right foot was in front of her left. Closing her eyes to find her center, she let out a quick breath, her sapphire eyes snapped open and she began sprinting towards M.M.

M.M. barely dodged out of the way from the war fan that nearly lopped off her head. Another strike came and landed in her abdomen before she had the time to recover from the previous dodge.

She moaned in pain as her breath escaped when the war fan made contact with her body. She fell onto her knees, clutching her stomach. _'That bitch! She was holding back earlier when I'm already giving my all just now! How dare she look down on me by holding back?' _M.M. was infuriated.

M.M. growled as she spun her nun chunk and attacked Kagome. As her right hand brought down the flexible weapon, a cold hard metal hit her wrist harshly and caused her to drop her weapon. Suddenly, Kagome was there right in front of her before she could blink her surprise away and the sharp edge of the opened tessen pointed directly at her neck.

"I had warned you that you are asking for it." Kagome coldly said. "Now, do you yield?"

M.M. laughed, "Well, well… Aren't you naïve? The ACTUAL mafia would have killed the loser by now."

"I do not kill unnecessarily," was her chilly reply. The pointed edge of the war fan was slowly digging into her flesh.

Panicking slightly, she quickly announced her loss. She slumped onto the hard ground as Kagome removed her tessen from her throat and walked away.

'_Chance!'_ The red head snatched her nun chunk off the ground and threw at the other girl whose back was facing her. "You should know not to show your back to your enemy before they are incapacitated!"

Kagome whipped around swiftly, avoiding the spinning nun chunk as though it was a passing wind. Her ocean blue eyes burned with an icy glow. "I've given you a chance, girl!"

"Then you should learn not to give any!" M.M. retorted, her voice wavering slightly, holding her clenched fists in front in a boxing stance. She was fearful of the girl in front of her. "And who are you to call me girl? You are one yourself, you bitch!" she willed her voice not to be weak. She would not let down her Mukuro like this! She put all of her remaining energy to her punch, hoping that it would reach the other.

An abrupt blow to her head and stomach made her world blur and twirl. M.M. then heard the female spoke, "You're ten years too early to face me, little girl." The red head then saw the other's face. It was hardened with emotions she had never seen or knew. "And I'm a _Lady, _not a _girl. _I am the _Lady of the West._" She spoke, standing regally. Her vision started to dim as her limbs felt as though all strength has left her. And then, darkness overtook her.

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><p><strong>Okay! There you have it guys! The tessen is finally out and in the show! :D Majority of the people voted for the Tessen, but I'll try and include other weapons if possible. I mean, it would be a little silly for Sesshoumaru to train Kagome in only one style of ancient martial arts, right? :) But no, I'm not going to make Kagome uber powerful and godlike. She's just stronger than Tsuna now since she received more proper training from Sesshoumaru than Tsuna from Reborn.<strong>

**If you guys got any questions about the story so far, please drop a question and I'll answer it. ^^**

**Oh, and one thing, would you prefer long chapters (~3k-4k words) but slow updates or shorter chapters but only a little faster updates? This is because I know I've been playing hooky with my fan fictions. :P I just need people to help me beta-read!**

**URGENT BETA-READER NEEDED! TT^TT**

**I'm really sorry that I update so slowly. School's been tough and I'm too stressed out. **

**Please tell me how you felt after this chapter and how I can improve on it! If anyone have any knowledge on Tessen fighting, please share! I only know some basics and it would help a lot if you can tell me more!**

**Do you guys want me to reply to your reviews? Like I mentioned before, I'm not too used to replying reviews. But, it never hurts to try. :)**

**REVIEW PLEASE! *puppy eyes***

**Chiibiisuke~**


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! I'm back! Been gone for almost a year, I'm so sorry! . **

**Here's the newest update! I talk a little more after the chapter. **

**Enjoy!**

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><p><em>Previously:<em>

_'Chance!' The red head snatched her nun chunk off the ground and threw at the other girl whose back was facing her. "You should know not to show your back to your enemy before they are incapacitated!"_

_Kagome whipped around swiftly, avoiding the spinning nun chunk as though it was a passing wind. Her ocean blue eyes burned with an icy glow. "I've given you a chance, girl!"_

_"Then you should learn not to give any!" M.M. retorted, her voice wavering slightly, holding her clenched fists in front in a boxing stance. She was fearful of the girl in front of her. "And who are you to call me girl? You are one yourself, you bitch!" she willed her voice not to be weak. She would not let down her Mukuro like this! She put all of her remaining energy to her punch, hoping that it would reach the other._

_An abrupt blow to her head and stomach made her world blur and twirl. M.M. then heard the female spoke, "You're ten years too early to face me, little girl." The red head then saw the other's face. It was hardened with emotions she had never seen or knew. "And I'm a Lady, not a girl." And then, darkness overtook her. _

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><p>*Four years ago*<p>

"Offff!" The little girl fell on the ground in surprise, a small lump forming on the back of her head.

Tears began to well up in her aqua blue eyes as she tried to glare at the towering man that stood over her. "That hurts Sesshoumaru! Why did you do that?!" She yelled, while her tiny hands poked the lump on her head to access the degree of it.

"Miko, I had told you many times. Do not drop your guard even when your opponent has yielded." The demon crossed his arms while holding on to the bouken and reprimanded Kagome.

"But that's low! Trying to attack your enemy when they had let you live-"

"That was how that stupid half-brother of mine always managed to let Naraku escape."

"But I was winning-" She whined.

"The Lady of the West does not whine."

"But I told you-"

"As the alpha of the pack, I had given you that position."

"Like I said, I didn't want that-"

"It was a condition and compromise for me to teach you the ancient styles of martial arts."

"I know, but-"

"Kagome."

She stopped rambling and looked into the molten gold eyes of her teacher. Sesshoumaru never called her by her name unless it was very important or when she irritated him. Kagome gulped nervously and fidgeted under the intense stare of Sesshoumaru.

"Kagome, you cannot deny the fact that Naraku has escaped numerous times, injured many of your allies, took advantage of that pause of hesitancy to grab a hostage and murdered the other Miko because that idiotic brother of mine was too soft. Many people today are no different. They will resort to anything, when they are cornered, threatened by others. They would do despicable things." Sesshoumaru stated calmly, bending down and rubbing the sore spot for Kagome. "You have to remember this very carefully Miko, don't ever drop your guard when facing your opponents. If you do, you must be prepared for the consequences."

Kagome knew. Of course she knew about that! Because they were too weak, too soft and too naïve, to think that Naraku might have given up and begged for forgiveness during that final battle. Because of that childish thinking, Kikyou was murdered. That split second when Inuyasha hesitated to deal the finishing blow, Naraku's poisonous tentacles impaled her previous incarnation before the rest of the group could react. Kikyou has died a painful death. Her purifying powers fought against Naraku's venom till the very end but lost due to the excessive lost of souls which he managed to suck out, even Kagome couldn't aid Kikyou to battle the toxic within her clay body.

Both she and Kikyou, had finally put aside their differences and decided to work together. Kikyou would train Kagome to further polish her unrefined Miko powers, and Kagome would teach her about the modern medical care, in order to improve their healing abilities. During that short but wonderful time of 6 months before the final battle, the three ladies in Inuyasha's entourage became inseparable, like they were sisters in everything except for blood. Sango had also, finally after much persuasion and convincing by Kagome, forgave Kikyou for all her past attempts to kill Kagome. The time together, has made Kagome realise that both of them are actually similar to each other physically but are polar opposites in personality. Kikyou was calm and collected, with an air of serenity around her, whereas Kagome was excited and spontaneous and always bringing a smile to people's face no matter what.

At the same time, Kagome has come to terms with her feelings with Inuyasha. Kikyou has told Kagome herself, that she did indeed loved Inuyasha, and he did too. However, the two of them did not know what love truly was as they had not received any from others. Inuyasha was hated by both human and demon society, being deprived of love from young. On the other hand, Kikyou was revered, treated as a holy being by others and was believed that love was below of her. When the both of them met, they were curious of each other, as both never treat the other with prejudice and stereotypes. And so, they were attracted to each other, thinking that that was love. Kikyou had placed her hands softly over Kagome's while she said it, that the love both of them felt for Inuyasha was a love for a great friend that triggered through their inner motherly heartstrings. These feelings, she told Kagome, was carried forward when she was reincarnated as Kagome. What Kagome and Kikyou felt for Inuyasha were sympathy and an unending urge to hug the poor half demon for being so unloved. It was then Kagome had become aware that her promise to Inuyasha of never leaving his side finally made sense. She would never abandon Inuyasha, and he would do the same. The residual feelings from Kikyou's death made her believed that she had truly loved Inuyasha. After approaching Inuyasha to confront her true feelings, he was astonished to find out that his feelings towards the only two women he thought he had loved was not love at all. Nonetheless, he thanked the two ladies and continued that he would still love them, no matter what happens. The three of them made a vow with each other shortly, that none of them would abandon each other for as long as they could live.

And then, Kikyou died.

'_Kikyou… I'm so sorry.'_ Kagome thought silently as she stood up and nodded solemnly to Sesshoumaru. "Let's continue."

The silver haired man gave an inclination of his head as acknowledgement before handing her dropped bouken to continue her practice.

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><p>Kagome knew the other would not back down so easily. She knew that when cornered, one could do unexpected things. She knew that she was not supposed to turn her back on an enemy that was still alive. She knew all these because Sesshoumaru had drilled it into her head when she sorted him out to train her so that she did not have to rely on others to protect her. She knew of it, because of Kikyou…<p>

However, she wanted to give the other a chance. She wanted to see whether the other girl have a warrior's honour. But it seems that she had proven her wrong.

"Watch ou-!" Yamamoto tried to alert her that the defeated girl still had not given up in the fight.

In the blink of an eye, Kagome had dodged the flying weapon towards her and deflected a feeble punch from the girl and hit her straight in the middle, knocking her out.

Sighing as she watched M.M. collapsed on the ground after receiving the blow. The miko then reached down and picked up the musical instrument and examined it for any hidden poison that may be deadly to her and her friends. After confirming that it was safe, she passed it to Shippo and gave him a nod.

The fox demon muttered, "Fox Fire" and the clarinet combusted with blue-green flames.

"Ka-Kagome-chan!" Tsuna called out to her while trying to stand up.

"Take it easy Tsuna-kun. How are you feeling?" Kagome walked towards the group and bent down beside Tsuna.

"A-a-a little dizzy th-that's all."

Her dainty hand pressed onto his forehead and wrist, checking his temperature and pulse. "You're fine now, the poison is purified." She smiled reassuringly and stood up to keep her weapons.

"K-K-Kagome-chan?" The brunette stammered.

"Hmmm?" The miko turned around and looked at him kindly.

"T-T-Thank you. For saving my life, as well as Kyoko-chan's and Haru's." he paused, "And I'm sorry for the saying all those awful things to Yamamoto and Gokudera." He apologized sheepishly.

It's alright Tsuna-kun." She replied with a soft smile. "Besides, it wasn't me who saved Kyoko and Haru. My friends did me a favour-" her ringtone went off, interrupting the conversation.

Flipping open her screen to see Inuyasha's caller-ID, she smiled. "Speaking of the devil, here he calls." She pressed the answer button and gave Tsuna an apologetic grin. "Kagome here, so how was it Inuyasha?"

"Wha-What?! You didn't see me on the screen?" Inuyasha demanded. "Damn! I thought all his birdies would have cameras on them to show." He snorted.

"What did you do to him?"

"Slugged him upside down of course!" He replied haughtily, "Although Shippo said I may have overdid it." He added not so sheepishly.

"I thought I told you to go easy on them?"

"Hey! That orange haired kid almost got her throat slashed open if I didn't reach on time and got rid of 'im!"

"Okay, okay. Tsuna sends his thanks to you." Causing Tsuna, who was listening to her side of conversation, blush crimson in embarrassment.

"Hmph! Tell 'im I want loads of ramen next time I see 'im!"

"Got it, meet you guys later at my place?"

"Yeah, yeah. See ya!" and the line cut off.

Tsuna hesitated, "So, is that guy the one who helped Kyoko-chan?"

The raven-haired girl nodded and grinned, "He demands for ramen as payment."

"You'd better thank him with loads of ramen Dame-Tsuna. If not, he'll do the same with you like he had done to the assassin." Reborn smirked as he hopped onto Kagome's shoulder and winked at the girl.

Catching on what the infant was trying to do, Kagome played along. "I doubt Inuyasha would hold back if you don't treat him with ramen…" She wondered 'thoughtfully' aloud, her voice carrying a playful tone in it.

"Hieeeeeee!" Tsuna started panicking. He didn't want to be beaten up badly! "I-I-" he stammered.

Sniggers from the red-haired demon could be heard as he tried his best to keep in his laughter. Man! His mama is definitely evil!

"W-w-what should I do?! I'll be killed by him!" The brunet started tearing up and looked pitifully towards Kagome with pleading eyes.

Kagome tried to school her urge to burst out laughing but failed miserably as Tsuna gazed at her with large teary chocolate eyes.

Looking around questionably, the brunet turned around and faced the fox demon with huge teary eyes that greatly resembled a kicked puppy. Shippo coughed as he held back his laughter and amusement. He gently nudged Kagome out of her laughter, shaking his head as he watched his mother tease Tsuna.

"I'm kidding Tsuna! Relax! I'll make sure Inuyasha won't do anything to you." Kagome grinned and patted Tsuna on his shoulders.

"What the hell transfer-ee! How dare you threaten the Tenth?!" Gokudera fumed.

"I-I-It's okay Gokudera-kun. But Kagome-chan, thank you so much!" Tsuna bowed low to Kagome.

"You're welcome. That's what friends do right? Helping each other in times of need," Kagome beamed.

The brunet blushed crimson, not sure of what to reply to Kagome. He didn't expect Kagome to want to be his friend! He was only Dame-Tsuna, Useless and No-Good. He would only drag them down in his own uselessness. Why would someone as pretty and smart and strong as Kagome want to be his friend? Let alone someone as sane as Kyoko-chan. Come to think of it, everyone else around him are either all insane or mental. The only sane people he has contact with was Kyoko, before Kagome showed up. Sighing to himself, he rubbed the back of his neck and smiled shyly while the said girl let out pearls of laughter upon seeing his crimson cheeks.

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><p>Fuuta hid behind the bushes while watching the brunet that was making a fuss over the pretty lady he had never met before. He didn't want to do this… but he had already given his word to Mukuro-san; that he will cooperate with Mukuro-san, so that he will protect Fuuta from the mafia families that desires his powers, something Tsuna couldn't do currently. His ranking ability has ranked Rokudo Mukuro as the sixth place, for 'The person the Mafia wouldn't want to mess with'. He was not able to approach the first person because he had heard rumours, that that person would not help anyone, that that person was a cold-blooded person, as though he was a devil. The second was as bad as the first. The other three were not good since they were the ones who desired his special powers.<p>

The young boy stared at the raven haired girl curiously, a tingling feeling from the back of his mind tells him that she was more than she seemed, the same as Tsuna nii-san. He wanted to run towards his Tsuna nii-san, where Mama would be at home cooking dinner for him and Lambo and play with the both of them. But Fuuta knew he couldn't stay. If he did, he would have placed Mama in danger and Tsuna nii-san could not save her. He took a step backwards, accidentally snapping twig under his feet and froze immediately when a pair of azure eyes met his own.

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><p><strong>Okay people, here's the update. I am so so sorry for not updating this story for like almost a year! I know you guys don't like excuses and whatnot. I had finally graduated from Junior College and would be going to university this year. I still have no idea which course I should go to! . <strong>

**Anyways, I've been working on little side stories for ASCL. It would probably be up in a few days. I promise! **

**I'm so sorry for updating so slowly!**

**Review please! Do tell me if there's any mistakes! :D**

**Chiibiisuke~**


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